The member of the Misrata Municipal Council and the security file official, Hassan Al-Sadiq, said after his meeting with military leaders at the headquarters of the Misrata Air College that they had rejected the departure of foreign forces.
The Misrata Municipal Council said in a statement that a unified decision had been taken to keep the presence of foreign forces present at the Air College (airbase) and on the ground in the city of Misrata.
It pointed out that the foreign forces' numbers were not that large and had tasks to perform, indicating that the presence of foreign forces currently was considered useful, adding that if it became clear that the presence of those forces inside the Air College was futile or dangerous, the city’s military institution would prepare a report on the necessity of removing them.
The statement said that the foreign forces at the Air College consisted of (50) Italian soldiers, (17) British soldiers, and (7) US soldiers, and that they were leading the training of military and security forces to raise their efficiency. They have also supervised the sending of military personnel for training in Italy at the expense of the Italian state.
The municipality said that those forces were present at the airbase based on the instructions of the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Army.
The commander of the Al-Samoud Brigade in Misrata, Salah Badi, gave the foreign forces at the Air College in Misrata until last Sunday to leave the city, calling on the “city’s revolutionaries” to prepare "force" to expel the Italian forces from the base after the expiration of the deadline.
