Egypt–Syria relations

United Arab Republic

On 1 February 1958, a group of political and military leaders in Syria proposed a merger of the two states to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Pan-Arab sentiment was traditionally very strong in Syria, and Nasser was a popular hero-figure throughout the Arab world following the Suez War of 1956. There was thus considerable popular support in Syria for union with Nasser's Egypt. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was the leading advocate of such a union.^[2]

Thus, on 22 February 1958, the United Arab Republic was formed. However, the newly created republic was short lived and collapsed a mere three years later, on 1961 following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état.^[3]

Nonetheless, relations between Egypt and Syria were cordial after the collapse of the union, and Syria stood by Egypt during the Six-Day War of 1967, which resulted in Egypt losing the Sinai and Syria losing the Golan.

Yom Kippur War

In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched the Yom Kippur War on Israel with a coordinated attack to retake Sinai and the Golan. Although the 2-weeks long war ended with Egypt regaining Sinai and Syria restoring a strip of land from the Israeli-occupied Golan, Egyptian-Syrian relations have become strained due to Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat's peace treaty with Israel in the Camp David Accords. Hafez al-Assad severed all relations with Egypt after the signing of the peace deal, and diplomatic relations were not re-established until 2005, when Egypt once again enjoyed warm relations with Syria under the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Post-Revolution Egypt

However, after the Arab Spring and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, relations became extremely strained. The Muslim Brotherhood is a banned organisation and its membership is a capital offence in Syria. Egypt severed all relations with the Syrian Arab Republic in 2011.

Under Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt supported the Syrian opposition and called on Assad to step down, largely due to the rule of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Egypt. On June 15 2013, President Morsi ordered the closing of the Syrian Embassy in Cairo and called for a no-fly zone over Syria.

However, diplomatic relations were restored and the embassies reopened after Morsi regime was deposed just weeks later by current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. In July 2013, the two countries agreed to reopen the Egyptian consulate in Damascus and the Syrian consulate in Cairo.^[4]

In late November 2016, some Arab media outlets reported Egyptian pilots arrived in mid-November to Syria to help the Syrian government in its fight against the Islamic State and Al Nusra front.^[5] This came after Sisi publicly stated he supports the Syrian military in the civil war in Syria.^[6] However, several days later, Egypt officially denied it has a military presence in Syria.^[7]

Although Egypt has not been vocal in support for any sides of Syria's ongoing civil war, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in 2016 that his nation's priority is "supporting national armies", which he said included the Syrian Armed Forces.^[8] He also said regarding Egypt's stance in the conflict: "Our stance in Egypt is to respect the will of the Syrian people, and that a political solution to the Syrian crisis is the most suitable way, and to seriously deal with terrorist groups and disarm them,".^[8] Egypt's support for a political solution was reaffirmed in February of 2017. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ahmed Abu Zeid, said that Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, "during his meeting with UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Saturday confirmed Egypt’s rejection of any military intervention that would violate Syrian sovereignty and undermine opportunities of the standing political solutions.”^[9]

Egypt has also expressed great interest in rebuilding postwar Syria, with many Egyptian companies and businessmen discussing investment opportunities in Syria as well as participation in the reconstruction effort. Tarik al-Nabrawi, president of Egypt’s Engineers Syndicate said that 2018 will witness a “boom and influential role for Egyptian construction companies in Syria and to open the door for other companies — in the electricity, building material, steel, aluminum, ceramics and sanitary material fields among others — to work in the Syrian market and participate in rebuilding cities and facilities that the war has destroyed.”^[10]

On 25 February 2018, Syrian state news reported that an Egyptian delegation composed of "members of the Islamic and Arab Assembly for supporting Resistance and Future Pioneers movement as well as a number of figures", including Jamal Zahran and Farouk Hassan, visited the Syrian consulate in Cairo to express solidarity with the Syrian government.^[11]