On 21 February 2011, in the beginning of the first Libyan Civil War, two Libyan Air Force fighter jets defected to Malta instead of bombing protesters in Benghazi. The Maltese government's refusal to extradite the pilots or return the aircraft to Libya swiftly established the island state as an unfriendly neighbour of the Gaddafi government amidst the Libyan uprising. Malta also coordinated the evacuation of tens of thousands of foreign workers who got caught up in the conflict; and played a lesser role in the later international intervention in the conflict.