Egypt's Salafist Al-Nour Party on Saturday boycotted a “support for Syria” rally in which president Mohammed Mursi announced the cutting of ties with the Syrian regime.

The group said the boycott was due to party officials questioning the timing of Mursi’s announcement.

"The first reason we boycotted the rally is that because we have in fact been (supporting) Syria for more than a year and a half on different levels as part of (our campaign) 'One Nation.' Speaking of which, a new cargo of aid is headed to Syria on Monday, God willing," Nadar Bakkar, the party's spokesperson, wrote on Twitter.

He added that the second reason is linked to the party's reservations over such events.



"We have reservations over several events held at particularly this time and aiming to mobilize one group of people against another before June 30," Bakkar said, in reference to nationwide protests that have been planned by opposition groups, marking Mursi’s first anniversary in power.

Mursi announced on Saturday the “definitive” cutting of ties with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and called for imposing a no-fly zone over the warn-torn country.

Egypt “decided today to definitively break off relations with the current regime in Syria, to close that regime's embassy in Cairo and to recall Egypt's charge d'affaires,” President Mursi said at a rally in Cairo on Saturday.

The “Support for Syria” rally was organized in Cairo and came a day after the Muslim Brotherhood denounced Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria and backed calls for Jihad (holy war) there.

Bakkar said Mursi's announcements on Saturday contradicted his previous statements, which have included him saying that Egyptian and Russian stances on the Syrian conflict are similar. Moscow is an ally of the Syrian regime.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 13:50 - GMT 10:50