Egypt FM Meets Syrian Opposition Leader in Cairo

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Syria’s exiled opposition leader Hady Al-Bahra in Cairo on Thursday to discuss developments in Syria.

During the meeting, Al-Bahra stressed the importance of Egypt’s role in resolving the Syrian crisis, reported Al-Ahram Arabic news website, quoting foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati.

Egypt reiterated its calls for a political solution to the crisis which establishes a democratic system that accommodates the country’s “political and ethnic diversity,” Abdel-Ati said.

In an interview with Saudi Arabian newspaper Akaz published on Wednesday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said a solution to the crisis in Syria should follow a deal between the Bashar Al-Assad regime and the opposition.

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC), headed by Al-Bahra, has been seeking Al-Assad’s overthrow since the outbreak of civil war in 2011.

Egypt has recently joined an international coalition led by the United States against IS, an extremist Islamist group which now controls territory in Syria and Iraq and is fighting Islamist groups backed by the SNC.

Source: Ahram Online