Eastern Libyan Parliament To Сonvene Over Egypt's Intervention Plans - Official

The eastern-based Libyan parliament plans to meet for an ordinary session to discuss Egypt's possible military intervention to counteract Turkey's forces in the country, Ahmed Huma, the parliament's second deputy speaker, told Sputnik in an interview, confirming his support for the recent statement made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi

BENGHAZI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2020) The eastern-based Libyan parliament plans to meet for an ordinary session to discuss Egypt's possible military intervention to counteract Turkey's forces in the country, Ahmed Huma, the parliament's second deputy speaker, told Sputnik in an interview, confirming his support for the recent statement made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.

Earlier this month, Sisi said that Egypt had an internationally legitimate right to intervene in Libya and told the army to be prepared to fight abroad, should the need arise. The Egyptian president also said that the Libyan eastern-based House of Representatives was the only legitimately elected one among Libya's power entities and offered to help Libyan tribes resist foreign intervention by training and equipping them. The parliament's speaker, Aguila Saleh, said that it would officially ask Egypt to intervene in Libya if the GNA troops seized the strategic city of Sirte and the Al Jufra Airbase, which are both under the control of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the country's center, and move further to the east.

"Now there is an attempt to hold a session of the House of Representatives and raise this question, what has been done by the speaker and the supreme commander of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces [Khalifa Haftar].

The speaker, Aguila Saleh, welcomed the Cairo Declaration, as well as Sisi's speech. I also support the position of the parliament's head, but the House of Representatives has not said a word in regard to this issue," Huma said when asked if there was an official request from the parliament to Egypt to intervene in Libya.

The meeting is more likely to be ordinary rather than an emergency, the Libyan lawmaker said, expressing his confidence that many of the authority's members will not allow Turkey "to interfere in Libya's security and will side with Sisi's speech."

The session has been postponed until further notice due to the spread of the lasting coronavirus pandemic, the deputy speaker added, noting that the head of the Tobruk city announced that the parliament's headquarters would stay closed in line with the Health Ministry's recommendations.

As of Monday, the Health Ministry of Libya has confirmed 762 cases of COVID-19, with 196 recoveries and 21 deaths.