Egyptian parliament on Monday gave a green signal to President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s proposal for possible military intervention in Libya to defend Egyptian as well as Libyan national interests, reported Reuters.
The parliament said in a statement that it has approved “the deployment of members of the Egyptian armed forces on combat missions outside Egypt’s borders to defend Egyptian national security … against criminal armed militias and foreign terrorist elements.”
The statement did not give details, a time frame or name Libya directly. It also did not mention Turkey.
El-Sayed El-Sharif, deputy speaker of the parliament, said that Article 152 of the Egyptian constitution stipulated that the state could not declare war nor send forces on combat missions until after the approval of parliament.
“In these situations there is no majority or opposition. We are all one vote in support of our Egyptian state in confronting these dangers,” he said.
The mandate comes a few days after Libyan tribal leaders met Egyptian President El-Sisi met in Cairo, where they called on the Egyptian Armed Forces “to intervene to protect the national security of Libya and Egypt.”
Notably, Egypt, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Russia, backs Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, who abandoned an offensive on the capital last month after Turkey stepped up support for the U.N. recognized Government of National Accord (GNA). The GNA recently launched an offensive against Haftar’s forces in northwest Libya as it is trying to capture the central city of Sirte and the inland Al-Jufra airbase.
Last week, the Egyptian President warned that his government would not stand idle if there was a threat to national security in Egypt and Libya. In response, the GNA labeled Egypt’s threat of military intervention in Libya as a “declaration of war”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the Egyptian government for supporting Haftar and his forces. He reiterated Turkey’s support for the GNA.
