Egyptian President: Assad Regime in Syria Must Go!

Iranian President Ahmadinejad (2-R) talks to his foreign minister Salehi (3-L) and an official as Egyptian president Morsi (R) delivers his speech at the summit of the Non-Alligned Movement, as UN chief Ban (L) listens, Tehran, Iran, 30 August 2012. EPA/B

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has stirred a controversy at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran by declaring that Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad, who is fighting an "Arab Spring" insurgency, must go.

After the opening of the NAM summit in Iran Thursday, Morsi urged member states of the Non-Aligned Movement to support Syrians striving to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose staunchest regional ally is Iran.

"Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity," Morsi said, prompting a walkout by the Syrian delegation, according to the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera.

It was not immediately clear if the Syrians had returned to the meeting after Mursi's speech.

Morsi's visit to Tehran was the first by an Egyptian leader since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, but his uncompromising speech suggested there would be no swift reconciliation between the two countries after three decades of animosity.

Diplomatic relations between Cairo and Tehran broke down immediately after Iran's revolution over Egypt's support for the overthrown Shah and over its peace agreement with Israel.

The NAM summit's final declaration is set to express deep concern about the violence in Syria and support for efforts by UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to broker a resolution to the conflict, reports say.

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