The Egyptian parliament has approved possible deployment of armed forces in Libya.
The military intervention was approved on Monday July 20, 2020 after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke of potential military operations in neighbouring Libya.
The Egyptian lawmakers unanimously 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 parliament said in a statement.
The approval was granted during a closed session where members of parliament discussed “threats faced by the state” from the west, where Egypt shares a porous desert border with war-torn Libya.
It came a day after the Egyptian president met the National Defense Council which includes the parliament speaker, the defense minister, the foreign minister and military commanders.
Sisi has warned that advances by forces backing the western Libyan-based Government of National Accord also known as GNA on the city of Sirte could prompt an Egyptian military intervention.
The GNA, however, described his warnings as a “declaration of war”.
