(Photo by Jihad Abaza)
Around 1,770 Egyptians are returning to Egypt from Libya after Egyptian airstrikes hit the country, the security directorate of Marsa Matrouh told state-owned news agency MENA Thursday.
The security official, Al-Anany Hamouda added that authorities have tightened security measures around the Salloum border.
Meanwhile, MENA also reported that the Tunisian Transport Ministry claimed Egyptian planes are to begin transporting Egyptians fleeing from Libya into Tunisia.
Approximately 250,000 Egyptians are legally working in Libya while the number of those working illegally remains unknown, an official with the Abulllah Al-Thinni government in Tobruk told Daily News Egypt.
The official, who had requested anonymity, said the Libyan High Commission in Cairo demanded that Egyptian workers willing to travel to Libya sign a disclaimer on Wednesday.
Egypt launched airstrikes allegedly against the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS) in the city of Derna on Monday. The strikes occurred in coordination with Abduallah Al-Thinni’s internationally-recognised Libyan government in the eastern city of Tobruk.
The attacks followed the release of a video depicting and ISIS beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians on Libyan territories.
