It was not the intention of the khalifs to limit their conquest to Egypt.

Othman contemplated the annexation of the entire North-African coast.

His general, Abdallah, set out from Memphis with forty thousand men, passed through the desert of Barca, and besieged Tripoli.

But, the plague breaking out in his army, he was compelled to retreat to Egypt.
All attempts were now suspended for more than twenty years.

Then Akbah forced his way from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean.