Moving to reduce Italian influence, in October 1970 all Italian-owned assets were expropriated and the 12,000-strong Italian community expelled from Libya alongside a smaller number of Jews. The day became a national holiday. Aiming to reduce NATO power in the Mediterranean, in 1971 Libya requested that Malta cease to allow NATO to use its land for a military base, in turn offering them foreign aid. Compromising, Malta's government continued allowing NATO use of the island, but only on the condition that they would not use it for launching attacks on Arab territory. Orchestrating a military build-up, the RCC began purchasing weapons from France and the Soviet Union. The commercial relationship with the latter led to an increasingly strained relationship with the U.S., who were then engaged in the Cold War with the Soviets.

How many Italians lived in Libya prior to October of 1970?