Thani government calls on Egypt to increase strikes in Libya

“The need has become more urgent than ever to arm the Libyan army,” Foreign Minister of Libya’s internationally-recognised government, Mohammed Al-Dairi, said, pointing out that his government has asked Egypt to continue its strikes in Libya.

During an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya, Al-Dairi stressed that “the need to arm the Libyan army has become more urgent than ever”.

“Libya needs a decisive stance from the international community to help us build our national army’s capacity and this would come through a lifting of the embargo on weapons.”

“We have asked Egypt to continue its air strikes in Libya in coordination with the Libyan Army,” he said noting that “failure to provide arms to the army serves extremism and instability in Libya and threatens regional peace and global security.”

Al-Dairi added: “We need to strengthen regional cooperation among neighbouring countries to control the border and confront the phenomenon of foreign fighters in Libya”.

Over the weekend a video emerged apparently showing the Libyan branch of the self-proclaimed Islamic State beheading 21 Egyptian men.

The Egyptian army retaliated by bombing the city of Darnah killed eight including four children.