CAIRO
A political aide to the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has said Egypt was working on a proposal by Qatar for an Arab military intervention in Syria to halt the 18-month-old conflict that killed over 30 thousand people.
Secretary of the Egyptian president, Seyf Abdulfettah, told The Anadolu Agency that "clear boundaries and goals" of a possible Arab engagement must be established, warning that it should not be used as a pretext for "a foreign intervention."
Abdulfettah said Egyptian and Qatari officials were set to discuss the issue soon, adding that Cairo may ask for support from Turkey during Morsi's visit to the Turkish capital.
The Egyptian president was in Turkey on Sunday to attend a congress of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and he was expected to meet with senior Turkish officials later.
Earlier this week, Qatar's Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani called for a political and military coalition of Arab nations to intervene in Syria during a UN meeting in New York.
"We have used all available means to get Syria out of the cycle of killing, but that was in vain. In view of this, I think it is better for the Arab countries themselves to interfere out of their national, humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed in Syria," al-Thani said in an address to the UN General Assembly.