On Monday 20 July, a closed meeting of the Egyptian parliament discussed a request from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for a mandate to intervene militarily in Libya. Since the president’s grip on the Egyptian parliament is notoriously tight and the proposed intervention was presented as a matter of Egyptian national security, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The parliament unanimously agreed the authorisation requested.
An Egyptian intervention in eastern Libya is an invitation to reflect on the historical importance of Libya as a geopolitical inflection point for the eastern Mediterranean region.
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