Egyptian foreign minister arrives in Damascus

ALBAWABA - Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has landed in the Syrian capital Damascus, the state Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad received his Egyptian counterpart at Damascus International Airport on arrival Monday.

It is the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to Damascus since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that Shoukry will also visit Turkey. It said his visits aim to "convey a message of solidarity from Egypt with the two countries and their peoples, after the Feb. 6 earthquake, which inflicted heavy losses" in both countries.

A parliamentary delegation representing eight Arab countries visited  Syria on Sunday on  the first trip of it kind to a country whose membership in the Arab League has been suspended since 2011.

The delegation included the head of the Arab Parliamentary Union and the speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, and the speakers of the parliaments of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Palestine, Libya and Egypt.

Other included delegates from the Sultanate of Oman, Lebanon and the secretary-general of the Arab Parliamentary Union.