Benghazi airport in Libya closed for over ten hours

The official story is that the airport was closed for over ten hours so that unmanned aerial drones could patrol overhead. Naturally the drones are not identified as U.S. drones even though everyone knows they are!

The manager of the Benghazi Benina International Airport claimed that the airport was closed shortly after midnight due to security concerns. The manager said:

“Benghazi airspace has been closed since 00:30 GMT for routine security checks."

He did not elaborate.

Some have suggested that flights were grounded to prevent suspects who might have taken part in the attack on the U.S. consulate from escaping. There have been reports that the attacks involved foreigners. But Cassie Blombaum an intelligence analyst with the UK-based Inkerman group said that the primary purpose of the closure was to enable American drone aircraft to mount patrols. One wonders why authorities would need to close the airport for this purpose.

Blombaum had reported as far back as June that U.S. drones had been operating in Libya and monitoring activity around Derna a city where militant commanders have long held sway. There have even been reports of drone attacks. One in particular was alleged to have been directed at a training camp run by commandeer Abdulbasit Azuz from Derna who himself complained of the attack. However there was no independent verification of such an attack. Of course the U.S. provides no information about the drone program and it is not known how many drones are in operation.

Some speculated that the airport was closed to allow deployment of U.S. Special Forces for an attack against militants. In any event, drones were launched over the city. In response militants fired at the drones with anti-aircraft guns. Many believe that the airport was closed in response to this action as authorities feared that civilian planes might be hit.. The Libyan government authorized the use of drones over Benghazi according to Libya's Deputy Interior Minister. The more the U.S. is visibly present in Libya the more backlash there will be and attacks against the Libyan government for cooperating with the U..S. may increase. In the appended video Pepe Escobar suggests that drones would be used to attack militant compounds.

Libya: More drones being sent together with Marines

The Obama administration is sending more military reinforcements to Libya along with warships. However, drones have been operating in Libya and also U.S.agents have been carrying out missions ever since the NATO mission ended last year.

Army Lt. Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Wired's Danger Room:

Yes, we have been flying CAPs [combat air patrols] since the war ended,”

No doubt with the agreement of the Libyan government the U.S. has been engaged in surveillance with drones monitoring militant activity in Libya. Drones were used extensively during the NATO mission:

Predators launched 145 strikes on ex-regime targets. That was twice the barrage drones unleashed in all of 2011 on tribal Pakistan, the place commonly thought of as the epicenter of U.S. drone strikes.

Since the Benghazi incident more drones will be surveying Libya and an additional 50 marines are being sent although apparently most of these will be used to increase security at the U.S. embassy and consular offices.

There are no doubt already U.S. agents working in Libya on special missions. Indeed, one of the Americans killed in the Benghazi attack told ABC news a month ago that he was working on an intelligence mission to find some of the hidden caches of weapons that are stashed throughout Libya. No doubt there are a number of Americans helping out and no doubt trying to ferret out information about what is happening among militant groups.

More drones are now being sent to fly over Benghazi and eastern Libya. No doubt the drones will be watching for militant activities. Given there are also warships being sent equipped with Tomahawk missiles events could very well escalate. If there is an attack on a suspected jihadist compound or camp this could cause even more conflict with the central government which lacks its own forces to battle powerful militias.

We seem to be witnessing the beginning of a terrorist hunt in Libya no doubt provoked in part by the fact that the Benghazi attack seems to have been planned and executed by a militant group. The U.S. is experiencing a type of blowback as militant Islamic militants who actively fought again Gadaffi are now turning their sights on the U.S. exactly as happened in Afghanistan. The U.S. response may start a new front in the war against terrorism and create new arguments for not cutting the U.S. defense budget.