On Monday, Egypt’s parliament gave military junta leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi approval to deploy troops abroad into neighboring Libya, following up a similar authorization from Libya’s Tobruk parliament, which is loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hafter and is seeking an intervention on their behalf.
This is the latest of Hafter’s several multi-year bids to take over Libya. A military dictatorship themselves, the Sisi junta has backed Hafter heavily, seeing it as a chance to install a friendly government on their border.
Egyptian airstrikes are common, but a direct ground invasion is hugely risky, because Turkey already has troops in Libya, and they are backing the alternative government in Tripoli. This looks tailor-made to be a proxy battle over Libya.
Egypt and Turkey have ideological differences, not just that Egypt is under military rule after a coup while Turkey’s coup failed. The two both have interests in the future of Libya, Turkey for the sake of oil and gas exploration.
It could be regionally complicated, as the Gulf Arab states generally back Egypt, and Hafter, and generally do not back Turkey. The US also tends to favor Egypt, but Turkey is a NATO member, and Egypt is not.
How romantic. They have ideological differences? This is an agreed upon move. Both Egypt and Turkey have an interest in blocking Israeli -Cyprus pipeline to Greece.
Both Turkey and Egypt are supported by Russia. The best thing for Libya is to stay divided for a while being protected by Turkey and Egypt. Turkey is making good use of Syrian militants. They have pay and a path to citizenship if they stay certain time in the Army.
This is just a negotiating tool with Western powers that now cannot forever keep the country in chaos. It will take a while to simmer down.
A token parliament and a US/KSA vassal for “president.” Sisi is biting off more than he can chew.
Gadhafi is sorely missed.