Quartet for resolving Syrian crisis meets

CAIRO - The quartet of contact group on the Syrian issue met in Cairo on Monday evening, talking about activating an Egyptian initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis, official MENA news agency reported.

The quartet comprises assistant foreign ministers of Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The meeting, headed by Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Shawki Ismail, was held to activate Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's initiative aimed at dealing with the deteriorating conditions in Syria.

During the meeting, Egypt will work to reach consensus on a number of fronts of the Syrian issue, mainly halting violence immediately, rejecting foreign military intervention and upholding Syria's unity, said Nazih el-Nagari, a deputy spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry.

He added "it is necessary to launch a political process with the participation of different Syrian components to achieve Syria' s aspiration for democracy, freedom, integrity and multi- democratic political system."