Egyptian Military Intervention Capable of Turning The Tide in Libyan War - President

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) Egypt will quickly reverse the military situation in Libya if sends its troops to the country, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi said on Thursday at a meeting with Libyan sheikhs and elders.

Earlier this week, Libya's Tobruk-based House of Representatives, supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA), gave permission to the Egyptian armed forces to intervene in Libya if Cairo sees reasons for a preemptive strike against an imminent threat to the national security of the two countries.

"If Egypt intervenes in Libya, it will quickly and decisively change the military situation," Sisi said, adding that the Egyptian army was one of the strongest in the region and Africa.

The president said that Cairo would not stand idle if the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) crossed the "red line" � enter the city of Sirte � and would not allow destabilization in eastern Libya.

For several years, Libya has been split between two rival administrations � the UN-backed western-based GNA, supported by Turkey, and the Tobruk-based parliament, backed by the LNA.

In early June, Sisi met with the LNA's commander, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and the eastern parliament's speaker, Aguila Saleh. After the meeting, Sisi announced the so-called Cairo peace initiative, which includes a ceasefire throughout Libya and the terms of a political settlement. The initiative was backed by Russia, the United States, and several Arab states, but was rejected by Turkey and its ally, the GNA.

Last week, Egyptian armed forces conducted an exercise near Libya's border. The drills, code-named Resolve 2020, took place in the northwestern district of Qabr Gabis, some 37 miles away from the Libyan border.