Egypt's Morsi severs relations with Syria

Morsi also urged the world powers to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria.


Reuters/afp June 15, 2013
Egyptian President Morsi attends a Syria solidarity conference organised by the Muslim Brotherhood. PHOTO: REUTERS

CAIRO: Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on Saturday announced the "definitive" severing of relations with war-torn Syria, which is suffering from more than two years of civil war.

Egypt "decided today to definitively break off relations with the current regime in Syria, to close that regime's embassy in Cairo and to recall Egypt's charge d'affaires" from Damascus, Morsi told thousands of Islamist supporters in a Cairo stadium for a "Support for Syria" rally.

Egypt calls for Syria no-fly zone

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi urged world powers not to hesitate to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria on Saturday, as he threw the backing of the most populous Arab state firmly behind the revolt against the Iranian-backed Damascus government.

The Islamist head of state had previously appeared somewhat less confrontational toward President Bashar al-Assad than Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. But in a speech to Sunni Muslim clerics in Cairo he said he had cut all ties to Damascus and demanded Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah movement quit Syria.

COMMENTS (2)

unbelievable | 10 years ago | Reply

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi urged world powers not to hesitate to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria on Saturday, . How about the Arab World enforcing their own "no fly zone"?

It Is (still) Economy Stupid | 10 years ago | Reply

His masters in Qatar who financed his rise to power through so called Arab spring told him to sever tie with Syria and support the rebel. Rebels are also financed by the Qatar. No surprise there.

Qatari foreign policy has been based on the whims -- or more politely, the vision -- of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, who is currently serving as prime minister and foreign minister. The two leaders' personalized control has produced a decisiveness lacking in their larger allies. On a visit to Doha, the Qatari capital, in March 2011, at the time of the international intervention in Libya, a Qatari friend laughed as he showed me a cartoon in London's the Independent, depicting a fighter jet with British Prime Minister David Cameron and then French President Nicolas Sarkozy fighting over the controls, while U.S. President Barack Obama dozed in the back seat ("leading from behind"). Riding the aircraft's nose was the Qatari emir, holding up his finger to see which way the wind was blowing. The caption of the cartoon, which you would never get away with in the United States, was "FU-2 Infighter Jet." http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/14/regimechangeqatar

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