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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Saudi foreign minister visits Syria, meets Assad |
| 2009-03-05 |
| DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in Damascus on Wednesday in another sign of a thaw in ties between the two Arab countries that had clashed over regional issues. The official Syrian news agency reported the meeting but gave no further details. Tensions between Damascus and Riyadh rose further earlier this year after Syria backed Hamas during Israel’s three-week assault in Gaza while Saudi Arabia stuck by President Mahmoud Abbas, who accused the Islamist group of provoking the invasion. Arab efforts to mend ties have been underway since. Prince Saud met his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem this week at an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt that discussed Palestinian reconciliation and the regional influence of Iran. An alliance between Syria and Iran that has strengthened in recent years has irritated Saudi Arabia. Prince Saud told the Arab foreign ministers meeting that a common view was needed to deal with what he described as the Iranian challenge and Iranian interference in Arab affairs. He also called for a unified Arab stance in dealing with the new U.S. administration and sticking by an Arab peace initiative that offered Israel normal ties in return for the return of all Arab land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. He said abandoning the initiative would leave Arab countries with no “reasonable alternative strategy to end the conflict”. |
| Posted by:Steve White |