Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said two of the leading state-sponsors of the Muslim Brotherhood terror group — Qatar and Turkey — have unloaded millions of dollars in expenditures to incite upheaval in the Middle East.
“Qatar, Turkey and the international organization of the Brotherhood are currently establishing many companies, newspapers, and websites. They allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to spread chaos among the Arab nation, destabilizing Egypt and destroying the Egyptians,” Sisi said in a meeting with Egyptian newspaper heads.
Sisi talked about the role Egypt must have in ensuring the security of a Palestinian state. The Egyptian president has been a consistent critic of terror group Hamas — the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood — in its governance of the Gaza Strip.
Sisi also denied reports that his country, along with the UAE, was involved in strikes against Islamist entities in neighboring Libya. “Our forces are stationed inside our territories,” he claimed.
US officials said Tuesday that both Egypt and the UAE had secretly conducted air raids inside Libya against Islamist radicals. The officials were upset that the US had no advance notice of the air attack carried out by the two Middle East allies. Some have suspected the two states did not want to inform the US because of souring relations with the Obama administration. The US said in a joint statement with the UK, France, Germany, and Italy: “outside interference in Libya exacerbates current divisions and undermines Libya’s democratic transition.” Newly minted UN envoy to libya, Bernardino Leon, said in a statement, “Any kind of intervention or foreign intervention won’t help Libya get out of chaos.”