Egypt, Cyprus Agree to Strengthen Military Cooperation

Askar met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, in the presence of the Cypriot Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Cyprus National Guard, and a number of officials and senior leaders of the armed forces. (Egypt’s military spokesperson)
Askar met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, in the presence of the Cypriot Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Cyprus National Guard, and a number of officials and senior leaders of the armed forces. (Egypt’s military spokesperson)
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Egypt, Cyprus Agree to Strengthen Military Cooperation

Askar met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, in the presence of the Cypriot Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Cyprus National Guard, and a number of officials and senior leaders of the armed forces. (Egypt’s military spokesperson)
Askar met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, in the presence of the Cypriot Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Cyprus National Guard, and a number of officials and senior leaders of the armed forces. (Egypt’s military spokesperson)

Lieutenant-General Osama Askar, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, concluded on Saturday an official visit to Cyprus, where he discussed the means to consolidate military cooperation.

The military spokesman for the Egyptian Armed Forces said that Askar met Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in the presence of the Cypriot Minister of Defense, the Commander of the Cyprus National Guard, and a number of officials and senior leaders of the armed forces.

In a statement, the spokesman said that the Cypriot president praised the relations with Egypt and the convergence of views between the two countries, especially with regard to the development of bilateral military cooperation.

Anastasiades praised Egypt's influential and effective role, which he said aims to achieve security and stability in the Middle East and the region.

The Egyptian military spokesman said that Askar met with Charalambos Petrides, Minister of Defense of Cyprus. He stressed to him “the need to continue coordination between Egypt and Cyprus to achieve more cooperation in the defense and security fields, joint exercises, and exchange of experiences between the two countries’ armed forces.”

Petrides, for his part, pointed to the “importance of coordination and joint action to face challenges, in order to achieve stability in the region.”

The visit saw a session of talks between the Egyptian and Cypriot delegations, which touched on a number of issues of common interest.



Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
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Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Italy's foreign minister says a moratorium on European Union sanctions on Syria could help encourage the country's transition after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition groups.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Syria on Friday and expressed Italy’s keen interest in helping Syria recover from civil war, rebuild its broken economy and help stabilize the region.

Tajani, who met with Syria’s new de facto leaders, including Ahmed al-Sharaa, said a stable Syria and Lebanon was of strategic and commercial importance to Europe.

He said the fall of Assad's government, as well as the Lebanon parliament's vote on Thursday to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as president, were signs of optimism for Middle East stability.

He said Italy wanted to play a leading role in Syria’s recovery and serve as a bridge between Damascus and the EU, particularly given Italy’s commercial and strategic interests in the Mediterranean.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Tajani later traveled to Lebanon and met with Aoun. Italy has long played a sizeable role in the UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon, UNIFIL.

On the eve of his visit, Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials from Britain, France and Germany as well as the EU foreign policy chief. He said that meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to begin the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

“The sanctions were against the Assad regime. If the situation has changed, we have to change our choices,” Tajani said.