15 March 2017•Update: 15 March 2017
CAIRO
Egypt is training Libyan forces with a view to “safeguarding the country’s security and stability”, Khaled al-Bakly, secretary-general of Egypt’s National Security Council, said Wednesday.
Al-Bakly made the assertion in an interview -- the first of its kind since his appointment in 2014 -- with Egypt’s private Watan newspaper.
He also denied Egyptian involvement in recent bombing campaigns against Daesh targets in Libya.
"The Libyan air force is doing this,” he said. “They are the only ones with the authority to do so.”
He went on to say that Egypt was providing military training to "patriotic Libyan forces” with a view to “safeguarding the country’s security and stability, which is closely linked to Egypt’s national security”.
While he did not say which “Libyan forces” Egypt was training, Cairo is known to support Libya’s self-proclaimed “national army” led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar and backed by Libya’s Tobruk-based parliament.
Adel Abdul-Kafi, a retired Libyan army colonel, told Anadolu Agency earlier that Egypt was providing Libya with its "full support” against Daesh’s presence in the country by supplying intelligence and training.
In early 2015, Egypt’s military carried out a series of airstrikes against Daesh targets in Libya following the group’s execution of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians.
*Reporting by Mohamed Mahmoud; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg
