Egypt and Saudi Arabia have stepped up pressure on Khalifa Haftar over the eastern Libya commander’s role in facilitating Emirati military support to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), warning that continued assistance could trigger a serious shift in Cairo’s relationship with him.
The pressure forms part of a broader Egyptian-Saudi effort to block flows of arms, fuel and fighters to the RSF, curb the UAE influence across the region and prevent further destabilisation along the sensitive Egypt–Libya–Sudan border triangle.
Earlier this month, Saddam Haftar, Khalifa’s son and deputy commander-in-chief of his Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), visited Cairo and met Egyptian Defence Minister Abdel Meguid Saker and other senior military and security officials.
Egyptian and Libyan media portrayed the meeting as focused on military cooperation, but the full purpose of the visit was not publicly disclosed.
“Saddam Haftar was literally summoned to Egypt, not invited for a courtesy visit, after confirmation that the UAE had supplied the RSF with weapons, military equipment, portable air defence systems and drones with the help of the LNA,” a senior Egyptian army source told Middle East Eye, using a previous abbreviation for the LAAF.
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“Egyptian intelligence and military officials delivered a strongly worded warning to Khalifa Haftar through his son, presenting evidence of fuel deliveries to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo from Libya’s Sarir refinery, alongside weapons shipments from the UAE.”
Since war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF in April 2023, Egypt has watched warily as its southern neighbour has descended into chaos.
Issuing a threat
Cairo is supportive of the Sudanese government and military, which in recent months has lost a string of strategic towns and cities to the RSF, most notably Darfur’s el-Fasher, where thousands are believed to have been massacred by the paramilitaries.
Though Haftar’s authorities in eastern Libya have long been supported by Egypt, he is also backed by the UAE, which is the RSF’s main patron and has been funnelling weapons, mercenaries and funds to the paramilitaries via Libya, Chad and Ethiopia.
As revealed in a recent report, supply lines via Libya that the RSF established by seizing border areas in June directly contributed to the group’s ability to take el-Fasher, after besieging it for more than 550 days.
According to the military source, Egypt has aerial imagery showing weapons shipments moving from Abu Dhabi to Haftar, and from there to the Rapid Support Forces, as well as Libyan fuel tankers transporting fuel to the RSF in Darfur.
“Egyptian security bodies have also monitored, through audio and visual surveillance, the arrival of mercenaries from Colombia and Venezuela into Libya, from where they are transferred to Sudan to join the RSF,” he said.
“Without such support, the RSF would not have achieved its recent advances,” he added.
“The message was clear: continued support for the RSF would force Egypt to reconsider its entire relationship with eastern Libya.”
According to the Egyptian army official, Cairo and Riyadh offered Saddam Haftar cooperation and alternative financial and military support to replace Emirati backing.
The meetings between Saddam Haftar and Egyptian officials were followed by a Saudi arms deal with Pakistan worth $4bn, the source noted.
“The weapons are expected to be distributed between Haftar’s forces and the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,” he added.
Haftar controls Libya’s east and south, and runs an administration that rivals the internationally recognised one in Tripoli.
However, according to the army source, Egyptian military officials shared intelligence with Saddam Haftar outlining Emirati plans to fragment Haftar’s territory once the RSF secured control over Darfur and Kordofan and had destabilised SAF-held Northern Sudan.
“The Emirati plan involved dividing Libya into multiple zones, with some areas remaining under Tripoli’s control, others under Benghazi, and Jufra and Sirte separated,” the source said.
Regional friction
A feud between erstwhile close allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE has erupted in public in recent weeks.
The Emiratis have sown discord across the Middle East and Africa in recent years by backing several insurgencies and separatist groups, including the RSF, which has been accused of a litany of war crimes, including genocide.
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In Yemen, earlier this month the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council separatist group was routed by pro-Yemeni government fighters backed by Saudi air strikes, after briefly seizing all of the country’s east.
The developments were accompanied by rare statements of condemnation between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Riyadh has since been openly assertive against Emirati policy in the region.
Egypt has joined Saudi Arabia in this. Earlier this month, MEE reported that Cairo shared intelligence with Riyadh on Emirati activities in Yemen.
“The UAE’s backing of the RSF was part of a broader strategy to shape the future of Sudan and Libya and strengthen its foothold in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel,” a Cairo-based geopolitical analyst told MEE, speaking anonymously due to security concerns.
“But those ambitions increasingly clashed with Saudi interests, especially as Riyadh views the RSF’s rise as a threat to regional stability and a direct challenge to Saudi-backed forces in Yemen.”
Egyptian air strike
The warnings to Saddam Haftar were preceded by an Egyptian air strike on a military convoy that crossed from Libya en route to RSF-controlled territory in Sudan, destroying it near the Egypt–Libya–Sudan border triangle.
A second Egyptian military source told MEE: “The strike took place after the convoy crossed the Libyan border in the al-Uwaynat area, southwest of Egypt and southeast of Libya’s Kufra region.
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“Egyptian military intelligence has tracked the involvement of Haftar-aligned forces, including the Subul al-Salam Brigade, in helping the RSF seize control of the border triangle, alongside Emirati air bridge flights landing at Kufra airport and transporting weapons and mercenaries by land to RSF positions,” the source added.
The convoy included dozens of vehicles carrying fuel, weapons and military equipment.
“Most of the vehicles were destroyed and fuel trucks caught fire,” he said.
“The instructions from the armed forces’ general command were clear: continuous air patrols are under way, and any military movement from Libya towards Sudan to support Hemedti’s militia will be targeted,” he added, using a common name for Dagalo.
According to the second military source, air traffic to Kufra from Abu Dhabi and Somaliland, the Somali region closely allied with the UAE, has since been suspended.
“The strike sent a clear message: no movement in the al-Uwaynat triangle will be tolerated,” he said. “Any military trucks or supply convoys moving from Libya to support the RSF would face the same fate.”
Analysts believe the growing Egyptian-Saudi alignment on Yemen, Sudan and Libya is aimed at confronting expanding Emirati dominance across the region.
A former Egyptian diplomat and political analyst said that recent coordination between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Yemen, Sudan and Libya was driven by “shared concerns over the expanding influence of the United Arab Emirates across the three conflicts.
“This convergence has not fully delivered what Cairo was hoping for in terms of a broader Saudi-Egyptian rapprochement,” the analyst told MEE.
“While President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appear aligned in pushing back against Emirati influence, differences remain over political leadership in the region.”
