Egyptian army flexes muscle near border with Libya
The latest military maneuvers held in Egypt come in light of Turkey’s decision to deploy troops to support Libya’s UN-backed government against the offensive led by Egyptian-backed military strongman Khalifa Hifter.
The Egyptian air force, affiliated with the Egyptian armed forces and in coordination with the Egyptian air defense forces, redeployed its various types of aircraft across a number of military bases Jan. 13 to provide air protection to all those participating in the Qadir 2020 maneuver.
Military spokesman Col. Tamer al-Rifai published an official statement Jan. 13 on his official Facebook page, stating that “the Egyptian air force has done this redeployment with the help of the Egyptian navy while carrying out their tasks to secure economic interests in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea operations.”
In the same statement, Rifai said the Western Military Region Command affiliated with the army carried out a number of exercises and training along the Libyan land and coastal borders in cooperation with the main branches of the armed and border guard forces as part of Qadir 2020. It also carried out many tactical projects with live ammunition in order to secure the coasts, he noted, adding that paratroopers conducted a number of training activities to increase preparedness.
Maj. Gen. Mohamed al-Shahawy, adviser to the army's Command and Staff College, told Al-Monitor over the phone that the army carried out the Qadir 2020 maneuver because the state is exposed for the first time to a very special type of threat very close to its western borders in light of the ongoing war and instability in neighboring Libya.
