In 2013, Laschet criticised Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle's support for rebels in the civil war in Syria: "It is absurd that the same people we are fighting in Mali are being supported in Syria. It is the terrorist groups al-Nusra and al-Qaida, financed from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who are introducing Sharia courts and fighting Syria's religious diversity". In 2013, Laschet also criticised Westerwelle's demand to release former President Mohammed Mursi after the coup in Egypt in 2013, as minorities and Christians in particular had suffered under Mursi.