The head of Syria's National Security Bureau Ali Al-Mamlouk met during a Cairo visit with Egypt's head of intelligence Khaled Fawzy, Syria's state-owned news agency SANA reported on Monday.

Al-Mamlouk met with Egyptian officials following an invitation by Egypt, where both sides agreed during the one-day visit on "coordinating political positions between Syria and Egypt as well as boosting coordination in fighting terrorism faced by both countries."

This is the first official visit to Egypt by the Syrian chief of national security since the Syrian civil conflict broke out five years ago.

According to AFP, citing a Syrian political source in Damascus, Al-Mamlouk had "met with Egyptian officials in Cairo previously, but this is his first public visit."

Egyptian media reported on Sunday, citing unnamed officials, that six Syrians officials arrived on a private jet Sunday from Damascus for discussions on efforts to reach a political solution to the country's civil war, now in its fifth year.

Last week, signs of tension surfaced between Egypt and Saudi Arabia over Cairo's voting in favour of two rival UN Security Council resolutions that would have, to different degrees, scaled down the fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Both resolutions failed to pass, but Egypt's backing of the Russian draft resolution sparked tensions with Saudi Arabia, which has opposed Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

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