Saudi Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Al-Banyan, second left, attends the opening session of the Arab military chiefs meeting at the Arab League headquarters, in Cairo, on Wednesday. — AP
CAIRO — Army chiefs from Arab League nations on Wednesday began work on building a region-wide military force aimed at combatting militants. The regional bloc agreed in March to set up the force, with member states given four months to decide on its composition, precise rules of engagement and required budget. The meeting to discuss such details was overseen by the Egyptian Armed Forces' Chief of Staff Mahmud Hegazy at the League's Cairo headquarters. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has pushed for the creation of the regional force after Daesh (the so-laclled IS) executed a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in February, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by Cairo. The plan gained further momentum after Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched airstrikes on Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. “The creation of a joint Arab force in no way aims to form a new alliance or army hostile to any country, but a force to fight terrorism and maintain security, peace and stability in the region,” Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Arabi said in a speech Wednesday. Hegazy said there was a need to “fight terrorism,” adding that the force might intervene in internal conflicts. “We cannot ignore internal conflicts and the growth of terrorist organizations in an Arab country, and it is wrong to think that these conflicts have no direct or indirect repercussions in other Arab countries,” he said. Wednesday's meeting will make proposals to the Arab heads of state that are expected to be ratified within three months. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, appears set to become the backbone of the force. Cairo sees it as imperative to intervene in Libya against the local branch of Daesh that is gaining ground in the country. Daesh has carried out widespread atrocities in the region and won the support of several other terrorist organizations. On Sunday it released a video purportedly showing the execution of about 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya. According to unconfirmed reports, Arab defense force will be twice the size of NATO's Response Force at 40,000 men. Some 500 to 1,000 men will be members of the air command while 3,000 to 5,000 service members will be in the naval command and 34,000 to 35,000 will make up the land forces. The land forces will have three subcommands made up of a special operations command, a rapid reaction force and a rescue operations command. — Agencies
