The French government firmly denied today reports that French-built Mirage jets sold to Libya were being transferred to Egypt. The reports published by the Daily Express of London “are totally without basis,” a spokesman for the Armed Forces Ministry said. A high French government official termed the reports, which also appeared in the Washington Post, as “absurd.”
France sold the Mirages to Libya on the expressed condition they not be sent, loaned or re-sold to any other nation that participated in the 1967 Six-Day War, government officials pointed out. The French government has made it clear that should any transfer take place, all further deliveries of the jets will be terminated.
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