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Tripoli airport blocked by obstacles on the ground

(BRUSSELS2) A map provided by the UN shows this. Tripoli airport is currently blocked. According to an analysis of satellite images collected on March 22 and 25, 2011, there is "no visible damage to any facilities or to the airport building". Traffic is, in fact, closed due to "multiple obstacles - such as vehicles - deliberately placed on both tracks". A total of 15 runway obstacles were thus identified: six along runway 09/27 and nine along runway 18/36. These obstacles range from a range of airport vehicle types, including baggage carts/containers, to aircraft tugs. These obstacles are circled in red on the map.

NB: The explanation of the abandonment by the staff seems implausible, given the regularity of the obstacles posed. It seems to be more of a desire to prevent the arrival (or takeoff) of planes in an "untimely" way. Do the Libyan authorities fear the landing of elite troops from outside (Entebbe style). We can also be surprised by the number of planes (more than fifty on the photo) which are on the ground.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

3 thoughts on “Tripoli airport blocked by obstacles on the ground"

  • Do not be surprised by the number of planes on the tarmac at Tripoli airport, this was already the case before the operations. Military and civilian planes have been parked for a long time, few must be operational.

  • And also surprising is the presence of planes on the access runways as if they had been suddenly abandoned there while the airport was in full swing.

    Unless they are also to be considered as obstacles...

    In any case it is hardly indeed unlikely that all this is spontaneous.

  • The colonel knows his classics… besides Entebbe, let's not forget Operation Barracuda (an assault followed by a coup chasing a megalomaniac Emperor).

    The loss of two mirages must also have given a gloomy sign of the state of the troops.

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