Egypt is seeking to form an international coalition, including France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, to take part in aerial attacks against ISIS in Libya, Anadolu reported on Monday.
“Discussions about a coalition are ongoing,” said an anonymous diplomat. “The attacks are to target ISIS terrorist camps in Libya.” No more details about the discussions were revealed.
The same source said that there are also discussions between Egypt and Russia to get Moscow’s support for the operations in Libya. “The Russians welcomed Egypt’s courageous response and pledged to offer all help needed in this regard,” added the diplomat.
A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, Bader Abdul-Ati, confirmed the news about the coalition. “The foreign minister said that there are some ideas about forming an Arabic force,” he said. “Such ideas will be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the Arab League scheduled for the end of March.”
Abdul-Ati added that the situation in Libya is out of the government’s control. Speaking during a press conference, he said that there are contacts with many countries around the world to let them know about the developments in Libya after the “barbaric” incident, a reference to the murder of 21 Egyptians by ISIS.
Egyptian officials stressed that leaving the situation in Libya to develop without outside intervention would threaten international safety and security.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of Libyan Chief of Staff Ahmed Al-Mismari told Anadolu that the government in Tobruk is also speaking with its contacts to form an international alliance to support Egypt. He insisted that it would be different from the coalition led by the United States.