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In 1986, and after the United States launched air strikes against Libya for sponsoring terrorism, the United Kingdom was worried Colonel Gaddafi would bomb its overseas territory Gibraltar, declassified documents revealed.
Quoted by British daily the Times, the previously classified documents indicated that London was getting prepared for Libya’s retaliation against the Rock. In fact, the country feared that Gaddafi would launch his raids through Morocco, which is geographically close to the British Rock.
The UK’s fears «prompted more careful scrutiny of any Moroccan or other Arab national visitors coming from Morocco to Gibraltar, and refusal of entry to those deemed associated with Libya», Sputnik reported, quoting the unclassified documents.
Gaddafi's threats and Morocco
British officials suspected the fact that Gibraltar might be targeted with terrorist attacks. The documents released, earlier this week by the British Defense Ministry, suggest that London was, mainly, worried about the «regular ferry links» that connected Gibraltar to Morocco. The Arab population living on the Rock were also «under the spotlight».
Gaddafi’s «plans» were not taken for granted by the UK, which took the necessary steps to foil them. London deployed «Royal Air Force Phantom interceptor aircraft and Rapier surface-to-air missile systems to Gibraltar», Sputnik reported.
London had even set a series of guidelines, preparing Gibraltar to Gaddafi’s planned air attack. «Any unidentified aircraft or suspected hostile aircraft in or approaching Gibraltar is to be positively identified by any means available», recalled the document.
«If an aircraft is identified asa Libyan combat aircraft it is tobe diverted froma course which could take it overGibraltar. If the aircraft continues ona direct track towardsGibraltar a warning burst ofgunfire may be fired».
By June, 1986, the threats of the Libyan Colonel faded away and the UK finally took a breath, withdrawing its forces deployed earlier in Gibraltar.
However, the country view Gaddafi’s plans as an act of revenge against its participation to the US-led bombing raids in Tripoli and Benghazi, in April 1986. The former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher supported the American forces that struck Libya, responding to Gaddafi’s alleged involvement in an attack that targeted La Belle nightclub in West Berlin.
