Egypt urges Syria to cooperate with international efforts to end bloodshed

CAIRO, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Egypt urged the Syrian government to focus on avoiding bloodshed and cooperating with international efforts to get Syria out of its current crisis, the official MENA news agency reported on Monday.

"The Syrian government should concentrate its efforts on avoiding blood shedding among their citizens and cooperate with regional and international efforts to get itself out of current catastrophic crisis," Amr Rushdi, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He said that when Egypt expressed its opinion on Syria, it was based on its keenness to protect the Syrians and avoid deterioration of the tragic events there, adding that "since the beginning of the crisis, Egypt participated in all international initiatives to stop the daily murdering operations."

His remarks came as a response to Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi who said on Monday that "more blood will be shed in Syria due to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar's statements."

In his speech during the annual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said bloodshed in Syria would only end if there were "effective interference" from outside, describing the Syrian government as " oppressive." Enditem