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Syria government sends envoy to Egypt to ask for help in anti-terror fight

Monday, 17 October 2016 11:12 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 17 October 2016 11:14 AM ]

Major General Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau

The Syrian government has called on Egypt to support Damascus’ fight against terrorism in Syria.

Major General Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau, paid an official one-day visit to the Egyptian capital city of Cairo on Sunday and held talks with senior Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss the matter.

He met, among others, with Major General Khaled Fawzy, the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

The two sides reached an agreement on “coordinating political standpoints” and improving bilateral “cooperation in the combat against terrorism” during the talks.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced on September 23 that Cairo and Riyadh did not share common attitudes vis-à-vis the ongoing crisis in Syria.

Shoukry said that terrorist groups cannot remain in Syria if peace is to be achieved in the conflict-stricken Arab country.

While Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Persian Gulf region, particularly Qatar, are financially and militarily supporting the extremists fighting to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian officials have reiterated that the crisis in Syria can only be solved through political means.

Earlier, the top Egyptian diplomat had underlined the importance of the resumption of the Syrian peace talks during an International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in New York, and called for accelerated attempts to bring about a comprehensive ceasefire in Syria.

Shoukry had also said that major powers should make more efforts and indiscriminately target terrorist elements and organizations.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to an estimate by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

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