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Cairo, Doha Discuss Joint Relations, Regional Issues

Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, Amr Sherbini meets with Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi in Doha. (Sherbini’s twitter account)
Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, Amr Sherbini meets with Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi in Doha. (Sherbini’s twitter account)
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Cairo, Doha Discuss Joint Relations, Regional Issues

Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, Amr Sherbini meets with Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi in Doha. (Sherbini’s twitter account)
Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, Amr Sherbini meets with Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi in Doha. (Sherbini’s twitter account)

Cairo and Doha held talks on bilateral relation and regional issues as part of efforts to bolster Egyptian-Qatari ties.

Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, Amr Sherbini met on Sunday with Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi.

They tackled means to bolster bilateral ties, as well as regional and international issues of common interest.

An Egyptian foreign ministry statement said Al Muraikhi welcomed Sherbini’s appointment as Egypt’s new ambassador to Doha.

He hailed the ongoing development of relations between their countries after they mended ties following a diplomatic and economic rift that lasted four years.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain mended ties with Qatar earlier this year by signing the AlUla Declaration.

Since then, Egyptian and Qatari foreign ministers have exchanged visits and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi held bilateral talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Baghdad in August.

The Egyptian foreign ministry highlighted the rapprochement with Qatar, hoping cooperation can be further bolstered in the future.

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Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
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Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)

Pro-Türkiye Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in an historically Kurdish-majority area of the country's north which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday.

The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria's new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the return of displaced Kurds, including tens of thousands who fled the Afrin region in 2018.

The pro-Ankara groups have "reduced their military presence and checkpoints" in Afrin, in Aleppo province, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Their presence has been "maintained in the region for now", said the official, adding that authorities wanted to station them in army posts but these had been a regular target of Israeli strikes.

After opposition forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, the new authorities announced the disbanding of all armed groups and their integration into the new army, a move that should include pro-Türkiye groups who control swathes of northern Syria.

Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies carried out an offensive from January to March 2018 targeting Kurdish fighters in the Afrin area.

The United Nations has estimated that half of the enclave's 320,000 inhabitants fled during the offensive.

Last month, the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of northern and northeastern Syria struck a deal to integrate its civil and military institutions into those of the central government.

Syria's new leadership has been seeking to unify the country since the December overthrow of Assad after more than 13 years of civil war.

This month, Kurdish fighters withdrew from two neighborhoods of Aleppo as part of the deal.

Syrian Kurdish official Bedran Kurd said on X that the Aleppo city agreement "represents the first phase of a broader plan aimed at ensuring the safe return of the people of Afrin".

The autonomous Kurdish-led administration's military force, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, played a key role in the recapture of the last territory held by the ISIS group in Syria in 2019.