Al-Iskandariyah New Air Base

Al-Iskandariyah New Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Babil Governorate of Iraq. It was seized by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Overview
The Al Iskandariyah (Alexandria) airfield was said by some sources to be one of eight major operating bases for the Iraqi Air Force at the time of the 1991 Gulf War. It was a large and expansive facility containing several hundred buildings and an extensive number of protective burms for aircraft revetments, maintenance shops and hangars, anti-aircraft missile sites and weapons storage areas. It was attacked during Operation Desert Storm. The al-Quds General Company for Mechanical Industries was the of a large military industrial factory. In 2001, the Iraqi government explored the possibility of establishing a joint Iraqi-Belarusian tractor factory on the site.

During the late 1980s, Al-Iskandariyah was the site of a major element of Saddam Hussein's programme to acquire nuclear weapons. The Al Qaqaa State Establishment, located in the town, is believed to be have been put in charge of developing the non-nuclear components for a nuclear weapon. It was subsequently inspected by United Nations weapons inspectors and officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In 1989, the British journalist Farzad Bazoft was arrested there after visiting Iskandariya to check reports that an explosion at the Al Qaqaa plant had killed 7000 people. He was subsequently executed by the Iraqi authorities.

The airfield was a major target for United States forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was seized by the United States Marines. Forward Operating Base Chosin, or FOB Chosin a U.S. Military installation was established at Al Iskandariyah airfield in May 2003 by the USMC.

It was subsequently the scene of a number of lethal insurgent attacks against the occupying forces and the post-Saddam Iraqi security forces. On June 19, 2003, a soldier from the 804th Medical Brigade was killed when the military ambulance in which he was traveling was hit by a rocket propelled grenade near Iskandariya. Three US Marines were killed by a roadside bomb on January 28, 2004 and another bombing on February 4 killed yet another soldier. Another attack, on Bay 11th 2007, killed a soldier from the 18th Military Police Brigade.

Today the facility is abandoned. Many support structures remain standing and abandoned, deteriorating in the elements. Operational hardened aircraft shelters and other structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished or removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed.