Mitiga International Airport

After the US Air Force left in 1970, the base was renamed Okba Ben Nafi Air Base (seemingly after the legendary hero Uqba ibn Nafi) and served as a Libyan People's Air Force (LPAF) installation. OBN AB housed the LPAF's headquarters and a large share of its major training facilities. In addition, aircraft and personnel of the Soviet Air Force took up residence at the base.

LPAF Soviet-made MiG-17/19/25 fighters and Tu-22 bombers were based at Okba Ben Nafi Air Base. Of the combat aircraft, the US State Department estimated in 1983 that fifty percent remained in storage, including most of the MiG fighters and Tu-22 bombers.

Ilyushin Il-76 targeted in the bombing of 1986.

In 1986, the base was a primary target of Operation El Dorado Canyon, a US retaliatory air strike against Libya for missile attacks on US aircraft over disputed territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea and Libyan involvement in terrorist attacks on US servicemen in Europe.[4] At 2 a.m. on 16 April 1986, Okba Ben Nafi AB, various Libyan government buildings, and three of thirty alleged Libyan terrorist training camps were bombed by F-111Fs from the USAFE's 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying non-stop from RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, to Libya.

Operation El Dorado Canyon included eighteen 48 TFW F-111F "Aardvark" fighter-bombers (Pave Tack-equipped), five EF-111A "Sparkvarks" from the 66th Electronic Combat Wing/42nd Electronic Combat Squadron at RAF Upper Heyford, UK, and carrier-based US Navy F-14 Tomcats and A-6E Intruders. The 66 ECW Sparkvarks formed up with the attack force to provide electronic defense during the attack. One 48 TFW F-111F was lost outbound from the attack to (presumably) a SAM or AAA hit. The 48 TFW that bombed the base had practiced for years with F-100s at this very same air base when it was Wheelus Air Base and later at Zaragoza AB Spain with F-4D Phantoms and F-111s for just such a mission.

The fourteen-hour 9,300-kilometre (5,800-mile) round trip to Libya required repeated in-air refueling (over seven million pounds of fuel), because countries closer to Libya – Spain, Italy, France, and Greece – had refused American planes permission to fly over or from bases in their countries.

Okba Ben Nafi AB was converted for civilian use and became Mitiga Airport in 1995.[5] The airport also housed the headquarters of Buraq Air.[6]

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, the Times of Malta and The Guardian reported claims that the airport had been taken over by protesters opposed to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.[7][8] On 13 March 2011, Ali Atiyya, a colonel of the Libyan Air Force at the airport, defected and joined the anti-Gaddafi forces.[9] On 21 August 2011, rebels launched an assault on Mitiga as part of a bid to battle loyalist forces in Tripoli, sustaining a number of casualties in the process.[10] On 25 October 2011 Google Earth released multispectral imagery from GeoEye taken on 28 August 2011 which showed the airfield as well as the highly capable MiG-25 aircraft with no visible damage. This imagery confirmation helped validate the reporting which suggested the airfield had been taken over early on by opposition protesters as NATO and US air forces would want to avoid collateral damage to the opposition movement.[11]

During the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign, the airport, held by military units loyal to the Government of National Accord, was repeatedly targeted with airstrikes from the opposing Libyan National Army[12] in order to enforce a no-fly zone declared by the LNA several days prior.[13] On 8 April 2019, an airport spokesman announced that the airport was forced to close due to airstrikes.[14][15]