On Wednesday, the Syrian Embassy in Cairo announced that it receives condolences over the death of Syrian's veteran Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who was one of the most prominent public faces for President Bashar al-Assad's government during the country's civil war.
The Embassy will open its doors as of today and Thursday to allow people to allow popular and official delegations of embassies, Members of Parliament, representatives of various political parties, in addition to the Syrian Community in Egypt to sign a book of condolences, according to a statement posed on the embassy's official website.
Muallem, who became foreign minister in 2006 and also deputy prime minister in 2012, blamed the war on a Western conspiracy to topple al-Assad.
He also regularly defended the government and its allies against widespread allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
More than 400,000 people have been killed and 13 million others have been displaced since a pro-democracy uprising erupted in 2011.
A Syrian government statement said Muallem was "known for his honourable national stances at different political and diplomatic arenas".
Rebel and jihadist groups once controlled large parts of the country, but the Syrian army has retaken most of the territory over the past five years with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militiamen.
Now, the last remaining opposition stronghold is the north-western province of Idlib, which the government has vowed to "liberate" despite the presence of three million civilians, including one million children.
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