Kenitra is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 431,282 as of 2014. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra Province. During the Cold War, the US Naval Air Station Port Lyautey served as a stopping point in North Africa.

Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in 1917 he served briefly as Minister of War. From 1921 he was a Marshal of France. He was dubbed the French empire builder, and in 1931 made the cover of Time. Lyautey was also the first one to use the term "hearts and minds" as part of his strategy to counter the Black Flags rebellion during the Tonkin campaign in 1885.