Battle of Maaten al-Sarra

Battle of Maaten al-Sarra
Part of the Toyota War
Date 5 September 1987 Location Maaten al-Sarra Air Base, Libya 21°41′20″N 21°49′42″E / 21.6888548°N 21.828289°E / 21.6888548; 21.828289 Result Decisive Chadian victory
Belligerents
Chad Support:  United States[1]	Libya
Commanders and leaders
Hassan Djamous[2]	Unknown
Strength
2,000[1]	2,500[2] 70+ tanks 30+ APCs 26–32 aircraft
Casualties and losses
65 killed 112 wounded[3]	1,000[4][5]–1,713[6] killed 300 captured 70 tanks destroyed 30 APCs destroyed 26[7]–32[5] aircraft destroyed 8 radar stations destroyed 1 radar scrambling device destroyed
class=notpageimage| Location of the Maaten al-Sarra Airbase within Libya, in relation to Chad.

The Battle of Maaten al-Sarra was fought between Chad and Libya on September 5, 1987, during the Toyota War. The battle took the form of a surprise Chadian raid against the Libyan Maaten al-Sarra Air Base, meant to remove the threat of Libyan airpower, that had already thwarted the Chadian attack on the Aouzou Strip in August. The first clash ever held in Libyan territory since the beginning of the Chadian–Libyan conflict,^[1] the attack was fully successful, causing a high number of Libyan casualties and low Chadian casualties, also contributing to the definitive ceasefire signed on September 11 among the warring countries.^[7]