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'Saudi seeking ouster of Assad'
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly accused Saudi Arabia of conspiring against the country to overthrow its government. The Syrian President says Saudi Arabian leaders are hatching plots to oust the country's government, the daily al-Akhbar reported, citing senior diplomatic sources. In a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa in May Assad told Moussa that Saudi King Abdullah, the country's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, the intelligence chief Prince Miqrin and the head of Saudi National Security Council Prince Bandar bin Sultan urged the West to launch a military attack on Syria to oust Assad's government and occupy the country, the report added. After the meeting the Arab League chief believed that the normalization of ties between Syria and Saudi Arabia would be difficult in short-term. President al-Assad also stressed that he will do his utmost to prevent tension between Tehran and Riyadh from turning into an Arab-Iranian conflict. Besides, he called for a Lebanon-like deal to end infighting between Palestinian factions and preserve Palestinian nation's interests. According to the report, after the election of Michel Suleiman, Moussa travelled to Damascus to brief the Syrian President on the outcomes of the Doha talks and told Assad that the Arab League ministerial committee acknowledged the key role of Syria in reaching a compromise in Lebanon. Assad has reportedly slammed Egypt for its efforts against Syria and said that Egyptian President Husni Mubarak spared no effort to boycott the Arab Summit in Damascus. He traveled to Bahrain in a bid to lure the Bahraini King into changing summit venue from Damascus to Sharm al-Sheikh. He subsequently sent a low level Egyptian delegation to Syria, the Syrian leader added. The diplomatic source said Moussa asked Assad if Egypt intelligence chief Omar Suleiman would travel to Damascus. The Syrian President said he did not know anything about the visit. He said he had asked Mubarak whether he would visit Syria. Mubarak said he was looking for a proper time. Later it was known he cancelled his visit to please Saudi officials. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-29 |
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