Arab League to hold emergency meeting on Libya

An emergency meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers on Libya will take place on June 23, a diplomatic source said.

"The League will hold an emergency ministerial meeting on the situation in Libya on Tuesday, June 23, on 11:00 Cairo times via a video conference," the source said, adding that the meeting will convene on Egypt’s initiative.

Initially, the meeting was supposed to take place Monday, but it was postponed because the meeting of the Berlin Conference agreements implementation oversight committee is to take place on June 22. This meeting, organized in coordination with the UN Mission on Libya, will discuss the goals determined by the conference, and the obligations the sides have taken upon themselves.

According to the source, "Egypt's request was supported by a number of member states," despite attempts to block it made by the Fayez Sarraj’s Government of National Accord.

"The meeting of the League’s top diplomats will take in accordance with all necessary legal procedures, and attempts of the GNA to prevent it were unsuccessful," the diplomat noted. "After the meeting, an official statement will be adopted, in which Arab nations are expected to condemn actions of Turkey in Libya, and will voice their support to the position expressed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi regarding the events in the neighboring [Libya], and will express their support to international initiatives and all efforts on termination of the crisis," TASS cited the source as saying.

On Saturday, Sisi floated the possibility of military intervention in Libya in a bid to "prevent the bloodshed in the neighboring country and to secure the safety of the borders" of Egypt, pointing out that such step "would have a legitimate status," and that "the Egyptian forces will advance, if Libyans ask for it." The Egyptian leader also warned the GNA and Turkey, who backs it, that Cairo would not allow anyone to capture the strategically important Sirt and Al Jufra, which are currently under Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar’s control, calling them "a red line that no one can cross."