Mursi Lashes Syria, Sparks Walkout at NAM Summit

Egyptian President Praises 'Revolution'

Syrian officials walked out on the Non-Aligned Movement Summit today in Tehran when Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, as part of his first high profile overseas mission, praised Syria’s rebel movement for a “revolution against an oppressive regime.”

Syria’s delegation included Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, and Mursi’s comments went on to demand that the world united against Assad, while praising various rebellions across the region, though conspicuously he avoided mentioning the Bahrani revolt.

Moallem slammed the comments, warning that Mursi’s speech might incite further violence in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Mursi was said to have left Iran almost immediately after his speech, though he apparently briefly met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mursi’s speech was far afield of reports earlier this week that he was trying to bring pro-Assad Iran and pro-rebel Turkey together for some sort of negotiated settlement that would end the violence.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.