Egypt’s vital role in Syrian, Libyan and Palestinian crises

CAIRO – 7 August 2017: Egyptian foreign diplomacy has concentrated recently on the regional issues, such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Libyan crisis and the Syrian crisis. Egypt has played a vital role in solving the current regional crises via mediation, sponsoring, and negotiations.

Syria

Egypt will sponsor a future ceasefire in war-stricken areas in northern Syria due to Cairo's positive role in the region, said Syria’s “Al-Ghad” (Tomorrow) opposition movement chairperson Ahmed al-Jarba in a press conference in Cairo on Saturday.
The Egyptian stance towards the Syrian civil war has been clear since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011. Egypt has reaffirmed many times peaceful and political solution is the only solution to the Syrian crisis.

“First, Egypt has not been involved in any conflict with Syrian parties, which are main factors in the ceasefire agreements; and it has not backed any armed Syrian faction. Second, Egypt has good relations with Russia (co-sponsor of the ceasefire). Third, Egypt’s role confined to only mediation,” al-Jarba elaborated during the conference.

Libya

The Egyptian- Libyan relationship has always been strong. Egypt’s role in fighting terrorism has crossed over into the Libyan soil. Faced with the threat against its national security and its citizens’ security in Libya, Egypt responded in February 2015 and May 2017 by launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets there. Simultaneously, Egypt has supported the political process in Libya and the role of the U.N. envoy, participating in dialogue between Libyan parties. Egypt is sponsoring a number of meetings of Libyan tribes too.

Hours after the massacre of 29 Coptic Christians in Minya on Friday, Egypt started a wave of air strikes, targeting training camps and the main center of the Shura Council for Mujahedin of Derna. Derna allegedly harbored the terrorist elements that carried out the attack.

The strikes on Derna were held in cooperation with the general command of the Libyan armed forces; and Libyan officials have since then expressed their full support for Egypt's operations and its war against overseas terrorism.

In 2014, terrorist groups kidnapped the Jordanian ambassador to Libya Fawas al-Itan in order to press Jordanian officials to extradite Libyan militant Mohammed Saeed El-Dorsy. Dorsy had been jailed for 7 years in Jordan.

The Libyan media outlet also declared that militant leader Abou Mosaab el-Shaery has been reportedly killed in airstrikes carried out by the Egyptian Air Force across the border.

The Libyan fighter was a former commander in the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Libya, according to the official Libyan news agency.
Egypt’s airstrikes at the Libyan city of Darna were carried out in coordination with the Libyan army, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry said in a press conference held with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Cairo on May 30.

Palestine

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi discussed a plan to reconcile the West Bank-based PA with Hamas, the de facto ruling party in the besieged Gaza Strip, London-based al-Hayat newspaper said on 7 August.

Al-Hayat had quoted unidentified Palestinian sources as saying that Abbas had thwarted a new initiative by the Egyptian head of state to broker a reconciliation agreement. The agreement was meant to end the decade-long rivalry between Hamas and the PA.
"Both Hamas and President Abbas agreed to al-Sisi's initiative, before Abbas proposed another initiative of his own, which Hamas rejected," the anonymous sources told the Arab-pan newspaper.

According to Arab media reports, Abbas, who heads Fatah, has not accepted the proposal after it was offered to him by Sisi in July. The deal stipulates that the PA would be committed to ending the actions it has taken against Gaza since April.
Abbas initially accepted the deal but then refused and presented a counter offer for a reconciliation agreement, according to i24news.

Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah faction have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas violently took control of Gaza in a bloody coup.

Egypt has similarly played a proactive role in conflict negotiation in Syria, Gaza, Yemen and Iraq. Increasingly, our partners within and outside the region have come to see the soundness and accuracy of Egypt’s position on these regional issues.

Egypt’s election to a non-permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council in 2015, with wide support from the General Assembly, is one of the most important achievements of Egyptian diplomacy since the 30 June revolution. The election is reflecting the international community’s support for Egypt and its role in maintaining international peace and security and promoting African, Arab and development. Egypt has been recently selected to head three specialized committees in the Security Council. The committee includes Counter-Terrorism Committee and the U.N. Sanctions Committees concerning both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq.