Sisi Travels to Budapest to Participate in Visegrad Summit

In this June 1, 2016, file photo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)
In this June 1, 2016, file photo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)
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Sisi Travels to Budapest to Participate in Visegrad Summit

In this June 1, 2016, file photo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)
In this June 1, 2016, file photo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Budapest on Monday to participate in the Visegrad Group (V4) summit. The V4 comprises the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

This is the second time since 2017 that Egypt participates in the summit.

Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said Egypt’s participation reveals the keenness to develop relations and address issues of mutual concern.

He added that the visit also reflects the deeply rooted ties between Cairo and Budapest.

Radi said the summit is expected to tackle a host of issues, including Egypt's role in the Middle East, cooperation in combating terrorism, illegal migration and energy security.

The talks will also address means of promoting trade, investment and tourism relations along with means to develop cooperation between Egypt and European Union countries, which are members of the Visegrad bloc.

The spokesman noted that Sisi is scheduled to hold talks with senior Hungarian officials, including President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on ways of bolstering political and economic ties, as well as international and regional cooperation.

The Visegrad Group was formed in 1991.

According to the State Information Service, Egypt was the first Middle Eastern and African country to take part in the summit.



Israel Warns People to Evacuate from More Areas in East, South Lebanon

Workers remove the rubble from the site of an Israeli airstrike the previous day that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Bednayel in the Bekaa valley, on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Sam SKAINEH / AFP)
Workers remove the rubble from the site of an Israeli airstrike the previous day that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Bednayel in the Bekaa valley, on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Sam SKAINEH / AFP)
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Israel Warns People to Evacuate from More Areas in East, South Lebanon

Workers remove the rubble from the site of an Israeli airstrike the previous day that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Bednayel in the Bekaa valley, on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Sam SKAINEH / AFP)
Workers remove the rubble from the site of an Israeli airstrike the previous day that targeted the eastern Lebanese village of Bednayel in the Bekaa valley, on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Sam SKAINEH / AFP)

The Israeli military warned people to evacuate from more areas of the eastern city of Baalbek and south Lebanon, including a built-up Palestinian refugee camp.

Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, killed at least ten people in different parts of the country on Thursday.

The Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the port city of Tyre is one of several dating back to the 1948 Mideast war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out of what is now Israel.

Israel invaded Lebanon at the start of October, after nearly a year of trading fire with Hezbollah. The group began firing rockets, missiles and drones on northern Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Iran backs both groups.

Israel has warned people to evacuate from large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Over a million people have already fled their homes.

Israeli strikes killed seven people in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News agency. Another strike killed a man on a motorcycle on the coastal highway between Tyre and Sidon.

The news agency also reported a strike on a car on a main highway running through the mountains outside the capital, Beirut. It said the strike in Araya closed the highway, diverting traffic through nearby villages.

Two people were killed in the attack, media reports said.