US Defense Secretary Panetta leaves Egypt for Athens

Oct 4, 2011, 16:44 GMT

Cairo - US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left Egypt for the Greek capital Athens on Tuesday after a visit of a few hours during which he met with the head of the ruling military council, Hussein Tantawi.

He discussed with Tantawi, who is also Egypt's defence minister, military cooperation between the two countries.

US military aid to Egypt totals over 1.3 billion dollars annually.

Panetta flew in from Tel Aviv onboard a military plane in a military base in eastern Cairo, sources at the base told dpa.

The visit is his first to the region. Panetta, who was sworn in in July, said he aims to cement security ties and has urged Israelis and Palestinians to kick-start the stalled peace process.

Panetta's visit to Cairo came amid reports of a possible release of an alleged Israeli spy, and that Panetta would accompany the dual US-Israeli citizen, who was arrested on suspicion of spying in June, back to the United States.

Cairo has accused Ilan Grapel of spying and encouraging violent protests and stirring internal division in the uprising that forced former Egyptian president Hosny Mubarak to step down.

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