War Footing: Egypt Answers Turkish Naval Drills With Own Large Exercise On Libyan Border

Via AlMasdarNews.com,

The Egyptian media announced that the Egyptian Army is preparing to implement a military large scale maneuver near the Libyan border called “Decisive 2020”, which is a response to Turkey’s announcement of a new naval exercise in the Mediterranean aimed as a ‘message’ to Egypt.

The Egyptian channel “Cairo and People” (Al-Qahira w Al-Nas) said in a post on Twitter, that the Egyptian armed forces, with their main branches, are carrying out the Decisive 2020 maneuver at the western border, and this means that the maneuvers are close to Libya.

The Egyptian military maneuvers come one day after the Turkish naval forces announced that they will hold huge naval exercises off the Libyan coast during the coming period.

Turkish media quoted the Turkish Navy as saying that the expected maneuvers would be called “Naftex”, and would take place off the Libyan coast in 3 different regions, and each would bear a special name, which is “Barbaros”, “Targot Rais” and “Chaka Bay”.

Turkish media revealed that these maneuvers will take place imminently, and that they are training in anticipation of war in the eastern Mediterranean, in addition to what has been described as the escalating tensions in Libya in the recent period.

Could Egypt and Turkey be headed for war in Libya? https://t.co/D1Z7AxTBKp

— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) June 20, 2020

The Jerusalem Post explains:

Turkey has increased its military intervention in Libya in recent months, sending ships off the coast, planes to bring weapons, mercenaries and armed drones to the country.This is ostensibly to support the government in Tripoli which is fighting a civil war against forces in eastern Libya.

But it is actually part of Turkey’s desire for a greater role in energy exploration in the Mediterranean and aimed at weakening Egyptian-backed opposition forces. In response Egypt’s president hinted during a tour of a massive military base on Saturday, that Egypt might intervene.

Egypt and Turkey currently back the two opposing parties in Libya, with the latter directly involved in ground operations inside the country.