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After years of being the primary backer of the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, Turkiye is now rapidly expanding its military footprint to a rival authority in eastern Libya.
This strategic shift has seen Ankara move from dialogue with the eastern-based General Command of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar to tangible technical and military cooperation with his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).
The LNA, long believed to have been supported by Egypt and other regional powers, has since the start of the Libyan civil war in 2014 been in conflict with forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Libyan government.
This has led some to question whether Turkiye’s outreach to the eastern Libyan authorities could provoke anxiety in neighbouring Egypt, Haftar’s longtime backer.
A Turkish military presence close to Libya’s eastern border, which Egypt has historically viewed as its geopolitical backyard, would habitually trigger alarm bells in Cairo.
Exclusive information obtained by Al Jazeera, however, indicates that the current dynamic is now driven by a new era of unprecedented coordination between former regional rivals where Libya was a key point of contention.
According to private sources, the rapprochement between Ankara and the General Command includes understandings on how to develop military facilities and advanced surveillance systems. The agreements also feature training programmes inside Turkiye for eastern Libyan officers, with specialised Turkish defence companies participating in these projects.
A security source told Al Jazeera that Saddam Haftar, the deputy commander of the eastern forces, is spearheading this through regular meetings with Turkiye’s defence minister and chief of staff.
While official statements vaguely refer to enhancing joint military cooperation and exchanging expertise, without explicitly mentioning the establishment of military bases or the deployment of drones, the reality reflects a deeper technical alignment between the two parties.
Why Cairo is not sounding the alarm
Despite the expanding Turkish presence in Egypt’s traditional sphere of influence, Cairo is unexpectedly not expressing concern with the situation.
An Egyptian source familiar with the bilateral relations told Al Jazeera that Ankara does not take a single step in Libya without prior coordination with Egypt, effectively neutralising any potential friction on this issue.
Brigadier General Samir Ragheb, director of the Arab Foundation for Development Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that Egypt and Turkiye have reached their highest level of coordination across multiple fields, including military.
In Sudan’s civil war, where Egypt and Turkiye back the army against the renegade Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the two countries are both aligned.
Ragheb argues that Turkiye’s cooperation with Haftar’s camp might actually serve Cairo’s broader strategic goals to limit the LNA’s support for the RSF.
Furthermore, Ragheb explains that Ankara’s engagement in the east fills a vacuum that might otherwise be exploited by other regional actors who threaten Cairo’s policies for the strategically significant Horn of Africa region.
He also noted that potential Turkish bases in southern Libya – far from the Egyptian border – do not threaten Cairo and could even facilitate joint coordination to manage security threats in the volatile Sahel and Sahara regions.
This eastern pivot is a move designed to secure Turkiye’s long-term geopolitical and economic interests, preserving its influence in Libya regardless of future political settlements between the government and eastern authorities.
Sources suggest that a primary driver behind Turkiye’s outreach is its desire to secure eastern Libyan authorities’ acceptance of the 2019 maritime border agreement signed with the former Government of National Accord. Notably, Egypt has refrained from objecting to a maritime demarcation based on a Benghazi-Turkiye line, indicating a tacit understanding on the issue.
However, there are still boundaries. Faisal Bualraiga, a Libyan national security expert, noted that while the current cooperation allows Haftar to diversify his alliances beyond Russia and the United Arab Emirates, it lacks a declared defensive agreement and has not yet evolved into a full strategic pact. He cautioned that any permanent Turkish military presence near the Egyptian or Algerian borders would likely cross a red line, inevitably increasing regional sensitivities.
Ultimately, experts suggest the Libyan file is transitioning from an era of rigid polarisation to one of flexible partnerships, where Turkiye and Egypt are choosing pragmatism over proxy conflicts.
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