This might get too political for general SW discussion.
That has always been a touchy part of the world though. They must have had some sort of security on the prequels, not just to keep curious fanboys away from the locations?
There's an old story I've heard that when the original film was being shot, the Libyan army across the border was allegedly very concerned/interested in the Jawa Sandcrawler, as they thought it was a real military vehicle. Don't know if it's actually true...