CAIRO/ISTANBUL

Egypt’s Army Chief Ahmed Khalifa met on Tuesday with Chief of Staff of Libya’s eastern forces, Khaled Haftar, to discuss strengthening military and security cooperation between the two sides.

A military statement said discussions at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Cairo dwelt on a host of issues of mutual concern and ways to enhance aspects of military and security cooperation between Egypt and eastern Libyan forces.

Khalifa underlined the importance “of continued coordination and unifying efforts to confront all common challenges and to support the pillars of security and stability across all Libyan territory,” the statement said.

For his part, Haftar expressed “his aspiration for further joint cooperation between Libyan and Egyptian armed forces.”

Last month, the commander of Libya’s eastern forces, Khalifa Haftar, appointed his son Khaled as Chief of Staff of his forces, replacing Lt. Gen. Abdelrazek al-Nadhouri, who was named National Security Adviser by the Libyan House of Representatives.

Khaled Haftar had previously served as Chief of Staff of the security units of the eastern forces, in addition to leading the 106th Brigade, the largest and most heavily armed unit in eastern Libya.

Libya remains divided between two rival administrations: one led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, which controls the west of the country, and another appointed by the House of Representatives (parliament) in early 2022, led by Osama Hammad and based in Benghazi, which governs the east and much of the south.