Egypt's intelligence chief courts Libya's Deputy Defence Minister as push to unify Libyan forces intensifies

Hassan Rashad, Director of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, met in Cairo on 16 July with Libya's Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Salam Al-Zoubi to discuss security cooperation and international efforts to unify and integrate Libya's fractured military forces, the latest in a string of high-level meetings signaling Cairo's deepening involvement in Libya's stalled unification process.

A conversation that spans Libya's whole political map

The talks focused on maintaining Libyan stability and supporting a comprehensive political agreement that both sides said would strengthen regional security. What stands out is not just the subject matter but the pattern: Rashad has spent the past year meeting virtually every major power centre in Libya's divided landscape.

He travelled to Benghazi earlier this year for direct talks with Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar, marking a notable diplomatic overture toward the east. He also made the first visit by a senior Egyptian official to Tripoli since 2021, engaging with the Government of National Unity's camp, the same faction Al-Zoubi, a former Misratan revolutionary fighter and commander of the GNU's 111th Brigade, now represents as deputy defence minister.

Analysts note that running Libya policy through Egypt's intelligence chief rather than its defence ministry gives Cairo a flexible, less formal channel into every configuration of Libyan power, from Haftar's east to Dbeibah's west.

Part of a broader, crowded diplomatic push

Egypt's engagement is unfolding alongside intensifying international involvement in Libya's unification file. A US-backed initiative, championed by senior American officials, has drawn parallel visits from Italian, Turkish and other intelligence chiefs to both Tripoli and Benghazi in recent months, while foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye met separately in Cairo to coordinate positions on Libya.

More than a hundred members of the eastern-based House of Representatives have already endorsed the American proposal, and prominent Tripoli political figure Abdul Hakim Belhaj has publicly backed it as well, even as some Libyan analysts warn the push risks legitimizing Haftar's forces as the core of a future unified army rather than building genuinely balanced institutions.

Why Cairo cares this much
For Egypt, Libya is not a distant diplomatic file but a direct extension of national security. The two countries share a long, porous desert border and deep tribal and commercial ties, and Cairo has consistently prioritized curbing arms smuggling, extremist infiltration and human trafficking networks moving across that frontier.

Egyptian officials frame their engagement with all Libyan factions, including Haftar, as inclusive by design, arguing that any durable settlement must draw in every influential actor rather than sideline rivals who retain real military weight on the ground.

The stakes for the wider region
A genuinely unified Libyan military, rather than the current split between Haftar's eastern forces and the GNU's western structure under the UN-backed 5+5 Joint Military Commission, would be a significant stabilizing development for North Africa and the Sahel alike, given how thoroughly Libyan conflict dynamics, weapons flows and mercenary networks have bled into Chad, Sudan, Niger and beyond since 2011.

Whether the current wave of intelligence diplomacy translates into an actual merger, rather than another round of talks about talks, remains the open question shadowing Cairo's, Washington's and everyone else's parallel efforts.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.

International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP

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