Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's president, has announced that Egypt is cutting
off diplomatic relations with Syria and has ordered that Damascus
Embassy in Cairo to be closed.
Morsi told thousands of supporters
in a rally held on Saturday that his government is also withdrawing the
Egyptian charge d'affaires from Damascus.
Morsi also called on
Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group to leave Syria, where the group has been
fighting alongside troops loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad
against the rebel forces.
"We stand against Hezbollah in its
aggression against the Syrian people," Morsi said. "Hezbollah must leave
Syria - these are serious words. There is no space or place for
Hezbollah in Syria."
The Egyptian president also called on the
international community to implement a no-fly zone over Syria, where the
UN says that more than 93,000 people have been killed since a popular
uprising escalated into civil war more than two years ago.
The
rally that Morsi addressed on Saturday was called for by hardline
Islamists loyal to the Egyptian president to show solidarity with the
people of Syria. However, Morsi also used the occasion to warn his
opponents at home against the use of violence in mass protests planned
for June 30, the anniversary of his assumption to power.
Morsi
repeated the allegation that Egyptians loyal to the now-ousted regime of
autocrat Hosni Mubarak were behind the planned protests and that they
were working against the January 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.
"Some
who are delusionary want to pounce on the January revolution and think
that they can undermine the stability that is growing daily or undermine
the resolve that people have clearly forged with their will,'' he said.
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