Egypt is continuing to deploy police and soldiers in the triangle along its border with Libya and Sudan, tightening border security in an attempt to prevent the infiltration of terrorists. According to sources in Cairo and Moscow, one of the results of the “2 plus 2” meeting between senior Egyptian and Russian officials in Cairo this week was an agreement to boost border surveillance and control mechanisms and joint intelligence work within the framework of counter-terrorist programmes and bilateral military and security cooperation. In tandem with the Cairo-Moscow agreement Cairo is in close contact with Washington over the situation in Libya. Egyptian sources told Al-Ahram Weekly Cairo wants to broaden military intervention in Libya beyond the Libyan National Army and the UAE with which it is currently collaborating. On Friday Cairo launched a wave of aerial assaults against terrorist camps in the Derna region of northeastern Libya in response to the attack on a bus carrying Coptic pilgrims to a monastery in Minya earlier the same day. Egypt claims the attack was planned, and the attackers trained, in camps belonging to the Shura Council of Libyan Mujahideen. The aerial strikes were still in progress as the Weekly went to press. Military experts expect the aerial campaign to continue for as long as the threat from Libya persists. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has vowed Egypt will strike the strongholds of terrorist organisations abroad just as it is doing at home. Libyan National Army Spokesman Colonel Ahmed Al-Mismari confirmed that the campaign is ongoing. In a statement to the press he said: “The joint military operation between the Egyptian and Libyan armies will continue in order to defeat terrorism. Derna has become a terrorist lair and a base for operations against Egypt and other neighbouring states. The two military commands have decided to eliminate this terrorist lair.” Al-Mismari said the operations are being followed closely by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, and Al-Sisi, and efforts are also being focused on liberating the city of Jafra which has become a stronghold for terrorist groups. Speaking to the Weekly from Derna Libyan researcher Al-Hussein Al-Musiri cited eyewitness reports saying the Egyptian strikes had targeted Fataih, the terrorists' main camp. He added that social networking sites known to be used by terrorists had reported that Abu Talha, the leader of the Derna branch of Al-Qaeda, and four of his aides had been killed. The reports and eyewitnesses said the corpses of the five men had been taken to the nearby Al-Harish hospital. “Only one missile was fired from the camp and it did not explode,” said Al-Musiri. Strikes also hit other bases. Three missiles hit a complex used by the Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade in the Abu Ribhiya quarter of western Derna. This is the second time Egypt has targeted Derna. In February 2015 it launched aerial attacks following the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts by Islamic State's (IS) Libyan affiliate. IS, which controlled the city, was subsequently driven out only for Derna to fall into the grip of Al-Qaeda, target of the current operation, though Ali Bakr, an expert on jihadist organisations, believes “a variety of jihadist groups are currently coordinating in the area.” Al-Musiri says the strikes against Al-Jafra preceded those against Derna and while they are being coordinated with Egypt it is unclear whether Cairo is actively taking part in them. “The UAE is believed to be playing the major role,” says Al-Mussiri. He adds that “certain parties” have been seeking “to undermine the Egyptian-UAE initiative accepted by the Haftar and Al-Sarraj camps after the two sides agreed the broad outlines of a settlement plan during talks in early May in Abu Dhabi”. According to Al-Musiri, the recent attack against the Shati Al-Barak military base in southern Libya was one such spoiling tactic. The attack was carried out by operatives affiliated with Al-Qaeda and resulted in 74 dead from the Libyan army, including the commander of the 12th brigade. “It is likely that Turkey and Qatar are behind these attempts to undermine the agreement,” says Al-Musiri. “We cannot rule out that the Turkish and Qatari intelligence agencies are involved in directing operations carried out by members of Al-Qaeda based in Derna who have direct links with Egyptian Al-Qaeda commanders who fled Afghanistan to Iran and from there to Libya via Turkey and who harbour an antagonism against the Egyptian government and army.” Russian political analyst Vyacheslav Matuzov told the Weekly by phone from Moscow that “Turkish planes make weekly flights to Misrata carrying weapons that are delivered into the hands of jihadists”. Haftar has openly accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups. In a statement issued on Sunday he said the Libyan army monitoring “Chadians, Sudanese and Africans in general, as well as [non-Libyan] Arabs in Libya who entered the country across porous borders, supported and brought in by regional powers and countries that promote terrorism… Some of those individuals received money from Qatar and from other countries and from operatives working for terrorist militias inside Libya.” Military and diplomatic sources in Cairo agree the strikes could continue until the terrorist infrastructure in Libya is destroyed or the UN Security Council acts. According to the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Egypt's permanent delegation at the UN “delivered a letter to the chairman of the Security Council on Saturday notifying the council of the aerial strikes targeting terrorist locations in Derna in eastern Libya and stressing that they are consistent with Article 51 of the UN Charter regarding the legitimate right to self-defence and with UN Security Council resolutions pertaining to the fight against terrorism”. General Mahmoud Khalaf, military advisor at the Higher Nasser Military Academy, explains that under Article 51 Cairo has the right to continue the strikes until appropriate measures are taken by the UN Security Council to address the threat to Egypt. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Fayez Al-Sarraj, has released a statement expressing its concern about the Egyptian strikes and claiming it was not consulted. Meanwhile, sources in Egypt say sweeping searches are being carried out to find the perpetrators of the Minya attack. Anti-terrorist forces backed by air cover are combing the mountainous area in the Egyptian desert close to the borders with Libya and Sudan. The southwestern border area around the Oweinat Mountain is notorious for cross-border infiltration into Egypt, says military expert Mohamed Qashqoush. Controlling the area requires the use of satellites and careful cultivation of information about organisations operating in the areas. “The problem extends beyond Libya to Chad and Sudan though at the moment the focus is on southern Libya,” he said. “Russia supports the Egyptian stance in Libya,” Matuzov told the Weekly. The Russian political analyst stressed that Moscow's support for Cairo's efforts to strengthen border security was a vital facet of bilateral cooperation. “An agreement to supply Russian advanced air defence systems was signed some time ago and these are now in Egypt. Moscow expects to continue to support Cairo with modern equipment to bolster Egypt's ability to protect its borders, prevent terrorist infiltration from Libya and safeguard its national security and sovereignty. Russia is prioritising this because Libya has become an exporter of terrorism across the region. Terrorism in Libya could be more destabilising than in Iraq and Syria. Washington's shift away from supporting Islamists in the region means Russian cooperation with Europe, the US and the Arab world via Egypt in order to resolve the Libyan question has become not only possible, but vital.” “Egyptian forces have destroyed around 1,000 four-wheel drive vehicles that crossed into Egypt from Libya,” says Al-Sisi. “During the last three months alone 300 vehicles were destroyed.” In other words, Egyptian security forces take out 100 four-wheel drive vehicles a month which cross the border to “smuggle terrorists, weapons and money to fund and train local terrorists”.
