Tunisia is once again embroiled in the controversy about housing a secret US military base. A report by The Washington Post Oct. 26 claimed that the United States has deployed unmanned aircraft to a facility in Tunisia — without specifying the exact location — to conduct spy missions in neighboring Libya.

Air Force Reaper “drones began flying out of the Tunisian base in late June” and “played a key role in an extended US air offensive against an Islamic State [IS] stronghold in Libya,” the newspaper said.

The report has again sparked the controversy about the US intentions to establish a military base in Tunisia that first emerged in November 2013, following the visit of Gen. David Rodriguez, the commander of the US forces in the US Africa Command to Tunis at that time. The controversy further renewed debates about national sovereignty and the goals behind the US-Tunisian cooperation and bilateral relations in terms of the war on terrorism.

According to The Washington Post, the unmanned aircraft flying out of the Tunisian facility are conducting spy missions on IS strongholds in the Libyan city of Sirte.