Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi addresses a rally in Cairo on June 15, 2013
Addressing a public rally in Cairo on Saturday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi announced, "We decided today to entirely break off relations with Syria and with the current Syrian" government.
He said that his government would close the Syrian Embassy in Cairo, adding that it would also recall the Egyptian charge d'affaires from Damascus.
"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns this irresponsible position," the official news agency SANA reported on Sunday quoting an unnamed government official.
Morsi had joined the "conspiracy and incitement led by the United States and Israel against Syria by announcing the cutting of ties yesterday," the official said.
"Syria is confident that this decision does not represent the will of the Egyptian people," the official added.
On Saturday, Morsi also called on Western states to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, and urged the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria.
In late May, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said that members of the resistance movement were battling the anti-government militants alongside Syrian government forces in the strategic border town of al-Qusayr -- an important center and supply route for the foreign-sponsored militants.
On June 5, the Syrian army recaptured al-Qusayr after three weeks of fighting.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed.
Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants.
In addition, several international human rights organizations say the militants operating in Syria have committed war crimes.
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