Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry met with Syrian President, Bashar Assad in Damascus and promised to deliver more aid to the quake-hit country.
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 after Assad’s government cracked down brutally on mass protests against his rule – an uprising that quickly descended into a brutal civil war. The conflict has killed over 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population of 23 million.
Shoukry told the media after meeting Assad and also his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, that Egypt has thus far sent 1,500 tons of humanitarian aid.
For years, many public figures in Egypt have called on el-Sissi’s government to strengthen relations with Syria. Shoukry has also pushed for Damascus’s return to the Cairo-based Arab League.