At last, the Arab League has paid attention to the ongoing conflict in Libya and called a meeting for the permanent representatives after rejecting holding a meeting for ministers in last July, despite the fact that hundreds were being killed and injured due to the aggression of Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the capital – an operation backed by Egypt since the kick-off on April 04, 2019.
Rejection of Military Solution
The Arab League convened an emergency session behind closed doors and off the cameras, reiterating rejection of any form of foreign intervention in Libya and saying that the Libyan Political Agreement is the only basis for settling the crisis – saying no to military solutions.
What’s in it for Egypt?
The assistant secretary general Hussam Zaki said the aim of the meeting was taking a unified stance against the illegitimate foreign interventions in Libya, which is the same term used by the Egyptian president Abdelfattah El Sisi to differentiate between pro-Haftar Egypt, UAE, France and Russia’s support and other support efforts for the Government of National Accord (GNA).
Haftar Begs for Support
Haftar wasn’t so far from the Arab League’s emergency session as he left Cairo Monday after enlisting political and diplomatic support from Egypt to rally anti-Turkey stances, thus; Egypt helped its ally and called for an emergency session at the Arab League.
El Sisi’s Benevolence
Haftar enlisted El Sisi’s support in helping him get the Security Council to lift the arms embargo and to help, along with his other backers, in anti-Turkey efforts to thwart Ankara from supporting the GNA with military and security assistance – which Haftar sees as a threat to his ambitions in controlling Libya and then handing it over to Egypt as a gesture of goodwill following the help he received from Cairo over the last six years in different cities across Libya.
A Turkish slap is all what the Arab League needed to wake up from its slumber toward the ongoing war in Libya’s capital. This new effort comes after the Arab League’s attempt to condemn and foil the Turkish operations in Northern Syria have failed, which shows – according to observers – that the Arab League is following the orders of Egypt.
