Lebanese Minister of Interior Nohad Machnouk said his country is looking to learn from the "Egyptian experience" and that arrangements for further coordination between the two countries are underway. Machnouk's comments came following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Ibrahim on Monday afternoon in Cairo. The pair "talked in the framework of cooperation and exchange of information… in view of the circumstances of the whole region", according to a Monday statement from the Lebanese interior ministry. They also discussed agreements relating to the training of security personnel and the "exchange of information". Machnouk "expressed his appreciation of tangible efforts by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior in the past and present and their role in the reduction of terrorist crimes", according to an Egyptian interior ministry statement. The Lebanese minister also met with Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb and assessed the "overall situation in the arena of the Islamic region and the world". They also discussed the "quest to spread the correct teachings, as advocated by Al-Azhar". Egypt's Al-Azhar and other religious institutions have been outspoken against extremist Islamist ideologies, especially in the context of the use of religious rhetoric from groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), which now calls itself ‘Islamic State'.
