Egyptian President receives Libyan marshal Khalifa Haftar in the middle of the offensive against Tripoli

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi received this Sunday in Cairo the Libyan Marshal Khalifa Haftar, The leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA) who dominates eastern Libya and launched on April 4 an offensive aimed at seizing Tripoli, the seat of the government of the unit (GNA), the official media reported.

Sisi, one of the main allies of Haftar, cHe spoke with the Libyan Marshal about "the evolution of the situation in Libya", the sources told the newspaper Al Ahram.

The offensive of the LNA, who governs with different allies and in the east of the country, based in Tobruk, threatens to bring down the West GNA government, which is supported by the United Nations (UN).

Both factions appeared in the chaos and violence that led to the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011and compete for power on Libyan territory since 2014.

In the early days of the offensive launched by Haftar, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, had warned at a press conference that the military way was not the solution to the civil conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who attended the same conference in Cairo and also called for a political solution for the country, made the same observation.

But the truth is that Haftar modeled his political personality in the authoritarian style of Al Sisi, an Egyptian general who overthrew the elected government of Mohammed Morsi, imposed a military dictatorship then elected president in disputed elections.

In addition, Egypt has provided arms and funding to the LNA citing their role in the fight against various extremist Islamist groups that have emerged in Libya since 2011.

Haftar was, in turn, a man close to the late Libyan dictator Gaddafibut then came into conflict with the brutal leader and went into exile for two decades in the United States. He came back in 2011 and in the middle of the wave of uprisings across the country, and soon he led one of the many groups that contributed to the overthrow of his former mentor.

This first wave of violence lasted a little less than a year and in 2012, elections were held in Libya for the first time in 60 years. The resulting governments were too weak to keep control of the oil country, and in 2014, the civil war resumed and persists until today.