CAIRO: Egypt’s parliament gave President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi the green light for possible military intervention in Libya by approving the deployment of armed forces abroad to fight “terrorist groups” and “militias”. A sharp military escalation in Libya, where fighters led by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar have been battling the forces of the internationally recognized government, could risk igniting a direct conflict among the foreign powers that have poured in weapons and fighters in violation of an arms embargo.

Sisi warned last week that Egypt would not stand idle if there was a threat to national security in Egypt and its western neighbor, Libya. Egypt, alongside the United Arab Emirates and Russia, backs Haftar, who abandoned an offensive on the capital last month after Turkey stepped up support for Tripoli.

Egypt has flown air strikes on suspected militants in Libya since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 plunged the oil producer into chaos. It has also supported Haftar, an ex-Gaddafi general, since 2014 when he assembled a force in eastern Libya, according to UN reports. But sending ground-combat troops would be a major escalation. The eastern-based Libyan parliament allied to Haftar asked Cairo this month to intervene militarily to counter Turkey, and its president welcomed Egypt’s move on Monday, a spokesman said.

The Egyptian parliament said on the vote supported by all present MPs that troops would be defending national security on the “strategic western front against the work of armed criminal militias and foreign terrorist elements.” It did not give details, a time frame or name Libya directly. It also did not mention Turkey. Egyptian state TV later ran banners on the screen saying: “Egypt and Libya, one people, one fate.” The last time Egypt sent ground troops abroad for combat was in 1991 in Kuwait as part of a US-led coalition to drive out Iraqi troops.

Sisi speaks to Trump

Shortly before the vote, Sisi and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone. “The two leaders affirmed the need for immediate de-escalation in Libya, including through a ceasefire and progress on economic and political negotiations,” the White House said in a statement. Trump also told French President Emmanuel Macron by phone that the conflict “has been exacerbated by the presence of foreign forces and arms,” the White House said. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters: “There is no military solution to the current crisis in Libya and there must be an immediate ceasefire.”

Egypt is concerned about instability in Libya and Turkey’s support for Tripoli forces. The Tripoli government’s forces have moved closer to the central city of Sirte, which they hope to recapture from Haftar’s Libyan National Army and is the gateway to oil- exporting ports held by the LNA. Sisi has declared the Sirte front line a red line for Egypt. Egyptian officials often refer to armed groups in Tripoli and western Libya as “militias” and see Haftar as leading a “counter-terrorism force.”

Indian navy holds exercises

NEW DELHI: Indian navy ships held joint exercises with US aircraft carrier Nimitz in the Indian Ocean, the US navy said, in a sign of growing cooperation between the two naval forces in the region. The USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan have been deployed to the South China Sea for the second time in two weeks as China and the United States accuse each other of stoking tensions in the region. India’s relations with China have also been strained recently after a deadly clash on their disputed land border last month, prompting calls for closer security ties with the United States and its allies including Japan to balance regional security. Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, said in a statement that Monday’s joint drills with the Indian navy helped improve interoperability of the two forces.- Reuters

Greta Thunberg wins award

STOCKHOLM: Climate activist Greta Thunberg was on Monday awarded a Portuguese rights award and promptly pledged the million-euro prize to groups working to protect the environment and halt climate change. “That is more money than I can begin to imagine, but all the prize money will be donated, through my foundation, to different organizations and projects who are working to help people on the front line, affected by the climate crisis and ecological crisis,” the Swedish teen said in a video posted online. She was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity for the way she “has been able to mobilize younger generations for the cause of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo that persists”, Jorge Sampaio, chair of the prize jury, said earlier.- AFP

Lebanese doctor dies of virus

BEIRUT: A young emergency doctor Monday became Lebanon’s first medic to die of coronavirus, state media said, as daily infections rise in the eastern Mediterranean country. Loay Ismail, 32, “died from coronavirus at the Nabih Berri hospital in Nabatiyeh”, southern Lebanon, the National News Agency said. The Lebanese-Italian Hospital in the nearby city of Tyre where he worked said Ismail contracted the illness “while carrying out his medical and humanitarian duty”. Firass Abiad, head of the main public hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Beirut, said: “Today we mourn Dr Loay, our young colleague, who fell while doing his duty, treating a patient with #Covid19.” “We have taken an oath and are willing to sacrifice all for our patients. Yet this does not take away the heartache or make the loss tolerable,” tweeted the director of Rafik Hariri University Hospital.

Israel accused of stealing artifact

JERUSALEM: A senior Palestinian official on Monday accused Israel of stealing a historical Christian artifact from the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Palestine Liberation Organization’s Hanan Ashrawi said the object was “a baptismal font dating back to the Byzantine era”, taken overnight from an undisclosed location in the city where Christians believe Jesus was born. Ashrawi’s English-language statement was released at the same time as one from the Israeli defense ministry department responsible for civilian affairs in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, COGAT. COGAT said that in an “operation that was carried out near dawn” its staff, backed by troops, “returned a rare archaeological relic that was stolen approximately twenty years ago” by antiquities thieves.  - AFP