CAIRO — Cairo airport officials say a high-level Egyptian security delegation has left for Syria in a rare visit. The mission of the delegation was not immediately clear.

Yasser Ali, who is spokesman for President Mohammed Morsi, denied the report. A senior security official said he had no knowledge about the delegation, which left Monday, but stopped short of an outright denial of the report.

The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to address the media.

Morsi is an outspoken critic of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, and has called on him to step down. Morsi launched an initiative last month in coordination with Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia to end the civil war in Syria.

Ali said Egypt's only channel for dealing with Syria is that four-member regional group.