Egypt: No political dimensions for the delay in the date of al-Assad's visit

A well-informed Egyptian source has denied that the "unfixed " date of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Cairo to have " any political implications." He said " Egypt welcomes President Bashar al-Assad at any time." He added that the reason behind the delay relates to the Syrian leadership and expected the visit to take place by the end of this month or the beginning of October.

As the Egyptian president has recently announced that President al-Assad will visit Cairo in the second half of September, expectations for the visit to be held soon increased after the Egyptian ambassador in Damascus Muhammad Ahmad Ismael arrived in Cairo on Monday evening and his statements to the press that the visit will be made shortly and that Cairo will be the first station for the Syrian President in his first Arab tour since he assumed power in succession of his father the late President Hafez al-Assad, and the visit will be an " appreciation for the role played by Egypt and President Hosni Mubarak and the historical relations linking the Egyptian and Syrian peoples."

The announcement made by President Mubarak on al-Assad's visit came following contradictory and successive news in the Egyptian official media on the timing of this visit after President Bashar was invested as a President for Syria in July.

Some of these news said it was decided that al-Assad will make an Arab tour to start from Lebanon and then Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But the Syrian official visit denied setting a certain date for his visit to Beirut, while other sources said he had decided to postpone the visit to Lebanon until a new government in Lebanon is formed in the mid of October.