Egypt's saber-rattling on Libya raises eyebrows
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's warning of possible Egyptian military intervention in Libya drew mixed reactions both at home and from parties to the conflict.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's warning that Egypt could intervene militarily in neighboring Libya if Turkish-backed government forces were to advance on the eastern Libyan city of Sirte has drawn mixed reactions from the parties to the conflict in Libya.
The Libyan Parliament affiliated with eastern commander Khalifa Hifter welcomed Sisi's remarks. According to a statement released by the House of Representatives on June 21, speaker of the eastern-based parliament Aguila Saleh had called on Cairo in January “to assist the Libyan armed forces in their war against terrorism and to thwart the foreign invasion.”
The UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, meanwhile, called Sisi's warning a “declaration of war” and an “attack on its sovereignty.” It further stated that the GNA is “the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan state.”
“Any direct intervention from the Egyptian state has now acquired international legitimacy,” Sisi said June 20, citing the threat posed by "terrorist militias" to Libya's security and stability in reference to the more than 2,000 fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) deployed by Turkey to support the GNA against Hifter. Sisi stressed the necessity of protecting Egypt's porous western border against infiltration by armed militants from Libya. His remarks came in an address to Egyptian troops at the Sidi Barrani air force base in Matrouh, a western governorate on the border with Libya.
