by thenationalnews.com — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has assured Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Cairo’s continuing commitment to his country’s “safety, security and stability”. Mr Mikati held talks with Mr El Sisi on Thursday during a visit to the Egyptian capital, where he also met Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly. A presidential statement said Mr El Sisi also assured the Lebanese leader of his country’s interest in ensuring that Lebanon is spared the “dangers of conflict in the region” – a thinly-veiled reference to Iran’s growing influence in Lebanon through the Shiite Hezbollah group.

Egypt, the most populous Arab nation with more than 100 million people, has been unusually outspoken on Lebanon in recent months, strongly criticising the country’s economic crisis and urging the country’s political elite to do more to unite the country. It repeatedly called for a government to be quickly formed and take charge of the country’s multitude of problems during months of political vacuum before Mr Mikati took office in September. Egypt has sent aid to Lebanon over the past year, including a shipment of glass to replace windows shattered across much of Beirut by last year’s port blast, and it has agreed to supply the country with natural gas for its power plants, through Jordan and Syria. Lebanon suffers power outages of up to 22 hours a day.