NATO: We are watching Egypt closely

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander General Philip Breedlove said Tuesday that instability in North Africa is a cause for concern.

Addressing a group of reporters at NATO’s operational headquarters in Belgium, Reuters reported that Breedlove said the alliance is watching Egypt closely.

“Refugee flows, commerce, drugs, all kinds of things in Europe are affected by what goes on in northern Africa so any instability in northern Africa is clearly a concern of the NATO nations," Reuters quoted Breedlove as saying.

“Right now, NATO is not planning for any actions in Egypt. Much like Syria, we are keeping a close eye on it, looking at how it affects our NATO partners and if we need to, we will do what we need to do to take care of our NATO partners,” he said, with reference to the United States.

The armed forces of NATO, which consist of 28 nations, most notably the United States and Britain, led the foreign intervention in Libya, assisting in the downfall of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Western news outlets have recently reported the presence of American warships in the Mediterranean Sea, as an attempt to intervene militarily as a result of failure to negotiate the return of President Mohamed Morsi. However, such reports have been denied by both the Armed Forces and the American military.