The official unification of the Libyan military institution will be announced soon at the conclusion of meetings that will be held starting from today in Cairo, under the auspices of Egypt, and in participation of a group of senior officers of the Libyan army, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
These developments came while a Libyan source denied to Asharq Al-Awsat that Libyan Army’s General Commander Khalifa Haftar had arrived in Cairo to participate in the sixth round of meetings to unify the Libyan military.
The Egyptian authorities are seeking to reach an agreement to unify the Libyan military institution for the first time since the collapse of the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
“Haftar is still in the Jordanian capital Amman since Wednesday,” a source who asked to remain anonymous told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that Haftar has conducted a series of meetings with US and British officials and Jordanian authorities.
On the other hand, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed in a joint press conference on Sunday with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan that Egypt has been working on unifying the ranks of the Libyan army.
In another matter, the General Directorate for Combating Terrorism of the Libyan National Army announced the arrest of a foreign terrorist cell in the city of Kufra, which tried to infiltrate into Libyan territory.
In a press statement, the directorate explained that the elements of the general directorate for combating terrorism have succeeded in arresting militants from the terrorist Nusra Front after trying to infiltrate the Libyan territory.
It pointed out that the initial investigations with the elements of the cell confirmed they were sent from Syria to Turkey, and then to Sudan, reaching Libya.