Wars of 1967 and 1973

Algeria played significant combat roles in both the 1967 and 1973 Arab–Israeli wars. A cargo of main battle tanks was dispatched to Egypt though a ship from Algeria with the approval of the Soviets in addition to 37 MiG-17s and two or three MiG-21s during the 1967 war.^[13] When Egypt had been suffering significant military losses during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, Nasser telephoned Algeria's second president Houari Boumediene explaining to him the situation and how many pilots his air force had lost. Boumediene responded by sending as many aircraft as the Algerian Air Force (QJA) could spare including a squadron of MiG-21F-13s as part of an air brigade under the command of Abdelrazek Bouhara. However, when Egyptian pilots traveled to Algeria in order collect their destined aircraft, the war had already ended back on the front line shortly before their return to Egypt.^[14]

During the 1973 war, Algeria sent a squadron of MiG-21s and Su-7s to Egypt which arrived at the front engaging in combat between October 9 and October 11.^[15] This was in addition to another contingent consisting of two squadrons of MiG-21F-13s and PFs with QJA forward headquarters already stationed in Egypt as early as 1970.^[16] It also sent an armored unit of 150 tanks which began to arrive on October 17 but reached the front on October 24, too late to participate in combat. Algeria also participated on the Egyptian front by sending its 8th Infantry Mechanical Regiment. This included over 2,100 troops, 815 non-commissioned officers, and 192 officers.^[17] Following the war, Algeria, along with the Soviet Union, financed Egypt and Syria by giving them both US$200 million in order to facilitate their future arms purchases.^[15]

Peace treaty with Israel

Relations between both countries however, have seen an unprecedented level of tensions following the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's decision to visit to Israel on 19–21 November 1977 and his intentions to negotiate with the Israelis, which Algeria, and several other Arab states, considered a stab in the back. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi denounced the visit as soon as it was announced and when it eventually took place, he called for a summit meeting in Tripoli on December 2 that included Algeria, Syria, Iraq, South Yemen and the PLO who later called themselves the "Front of Steadfastness and Confrontation" in what was officially termed the Tripoli Declaration intended to put pressure on Egypt to withdraw its decisions to make peace with Israel.^[18] During this meeting, Algeria along with other participants called for Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League and which concluded with all member states freezing their ties with Egypt calling on all Arab states to give their full support to Syria as the main point of confrontation and condemned Sadat's actions as "high treason". In response, Sadat severed ties with every country that participated in the initiative, including Algeria, and gave their ambassadors 24 hours to leave the country.^[19] In March 1979, following the Camp David Accords, Egypt was expelled from the Arab League with almost all member states cutting-off diplomatic ties with Egypt and subjecting it to the same boycott as Israel.^[20] Tensions remained between Egypt and Algeria and it wasn't until November 1988 when Algeria decided to re-establish relations with Egypt.^[21]

Current relations (1988–present)

On 25 June 2014, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made his first official visit abroad since his election a month earlier to Algeria, where regional security was top of the agenda. Both sides discussed ways to counter Islamic militancy in North Africa as the meeting came amid rising terrorist activity in Libya with whom both countries share long borders. President el-Sisi stressed that both countries should collaborate with “a coordination of positions” in order to overcome these issues and that this cooperation.^[22] A month earlier, the two countries sought to hold a Joint Algerian-Egyptian Higher Committee to would meet in June when Egypt elects a new president. Diplomatic sources from both countries told the website Al-Monitor that "Egypt and Algeria will become the two arms of a pincer on the Libyan desert".^[23][24] During the meeting, Algeria agreed to ship five 145,000 m² cargoes of liquefied natural gas to Egypt before the end of 2014. This was aimed at helping Egypt to overcome its worst energy crisis in years due to three years of nationwide turmoil.^[25]