DAMASCUS: Egypt’s foreign minister met Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday in the first visits to Syria and Turkiye by a top Egyptian diplomat in a decade.
“The goal of the visit is primarily humanitarian, and to pass on our solidarity - from the leadership, the government and the people of Egypt to the people of Syria,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters in Damascus.
Egypt was looking forward to providing more quake assistance “in full coordination with the Syrian government” after already having donated some 1,500 tonnes, Shoukry added, standing alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
“When the foreign minister of Egypt comes to Damascus, he comes to his home, his people, and his country,” Mekdad said.
The earthquake killed more than 5,900 people in Syria, the bulk of them in the rebel-held northwest. In Turkiye, the death toll stands at more than 44,000.
Shoukry did not respond to reporters’ questions on whether Egypt would support lifting the Arab League’s suspension of Syria. Ties between Syria and Egypt were briefly cut during the Brotherhood-led government of President Mohammed Mursi.
Egypt reopened its embassy in Syria in 2013 after the army removed Mursi from power, but kept Assad at arm’s length. Shoukry met Mekdad in 2021 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Following the quake, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi spoke with Assad by phone for the first time and on Sunday a delegation of parliamentarians from around the region, including Egypt’s parliament speaker, met Assad in Damascus.
Washington has voiced opposition to any moves towards rehabilitating or normalising ties with Assad, citing his government’s brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution.
Saudi Arabia, has said consensus was building in the Arab world that isolating Syria was not working and that dialogue with Damascus was needed at some point to at least address humanitarian issues.
Shoukry also visited Turkiye, pointing to another shift in Egypt’s foreign ties.
“Foreign minister offers condolences for the victims of earthquake, affirms solidarity of Egyptian leadership, government and people with Turkiye and asserting continuity of aid for supporting Turkiye and its brotherly people,” Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesperson for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, said. — Reuters
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