The Maaten al-Sarra Air Base is an airbase in southernmost

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

located near the

Ma'tan as-Sarra Ma'tan as-Sarra is an oasis in the Kufra District municipality in the southeast corner of Libya. It is located in the Libyan Desert, southwest of Kufra. A marginal oasis, with few palms and substandard water, it allowed the creation in 1811 of th ...

oasis in the

Kufra Kufra () is a basinBertarelli (1929), p. 514. and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

. It is one of the 13 military airbases in Libya. During the final phase of the Chadian-Libyan conflict, Maaten al-Sarra was the main air base in Southern Libya, being provided with three modern

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

s and an ample

parking space A parking space, parking place or parking spot is a location that is designated for parking, either paved or unpaved. It can be in a parking garage, in a parking lot or on a city street. The space may be delineated by road surface markings. ...

that could support over 100

combat aircraft A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equi ...

History

When in 1987 the

Chadian army french: Armée nationale tchadienne , image = , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 = , motto ...

attacked Libyan positions in northern Chad, in the so-called

Toyota War The Toyota War (, ) or Great Toyota War was the last phase of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, which took place in 1987 in Northern Chad and on the Libyan–Chadian border. It takes its name from the Toyota pickup trucks used, primarily the Toyota ...

, after a string of victories the Chadians were defeated in August in the Battle of Aouzou, mainly due to Libyan airpower. The Chadian command decided that before renewing the offensive against the Aouzou Strip, it was vital to deal with the menace represented by the

Libyan Air Force The Libyan Air Force ( ar, القوات الجوية الليبية) is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the Libyan Civil War, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,00 ...

, and thus planned a surprise attack on Maaten al-Sarra, 60 miles north of the Chadian–Libyan border. The attack, which took place on September 5, was one of the most spectacular Chadian victories in the conflict, with 1,700 Libyans killed and 300 taken prisoner. The Chadian victory, because of Libyan demoralization at home and international hostility, brought an agreed

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

on September 11 that put an end to the war.

Current use

References

External links

OpenStreetMap - Matan As Sarra Air BaseGoogle Maps - Maaten al-Sarra
Libyan Air Force bases Airports in Libya {{Libya-airport-stub

History

Current use

See also

References

External links