BEIRUT — The Saudi king and Syrian president emphasized their keenness to support the calm that Lebanon has been witnessing since the formation of a national unity Cabinet, the state-run Syrian National News Agency (SANA) said Thursday.
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| Syrian President Bashar Assad (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in Damascus July 29, 2010. REUTERS |
Both leaders made their remarks during talks at the presidential palace in Damascus.
The Saudi monarch arrived in the Syrian capital on Thursday as part of a regional tour that comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, according to SANA.
Assad and King Abdullah also stressed that the current Arab situation necessitated promoting Arab ties and looking for mechanisms to enhance Arab solidarity and joint action.
The visit comes as Syria, which held sway for three decades over Lebanon, tries to open a new chapter in ties with its smaller neighbor.
Regional tensions are also high over recent reports that Syria sent Scud missiles to Hizbullah and suspicions that the party’s patron Iran wants to acquire nuclear weapons.
Syria, which denied sending Scuds, is Iran’s strongest ally in the Arab world.
On Thursday, the Syrian government advised the United States against interfering in King Abdullah’s visit to Damascus, saying the two countries “know better” how to stabilize the Middle East.
U.S. State Department official Philip Crowley said on Wednesday Washington hoped Syria would play a constructive role in the region and would respond to the Saudi monarch’s concerns about Iranian “threats” to Middle East stability.
“Obviously, King Abdullah has played a significant leadership role in the region. So his prospective travel to Syria and to Lebanon is consistent with his search for peace,” Crowley said.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said the United States “has no right to define our ties with the countries of the region and interfere in the content of the talks the Saudi monarch will have in Damascus.”
Saudi Arabia and Syria have long been on opposite sides of a deep rift in the Arab world, with Syria backing resistance groups such as the Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian Hamas. The kingdom is a U.S. ally, along with Jordan and Egypt.
But relations began to thaw in recent years, and Thursday’s two-day visit is a sign the countries are trying to show a united front as tempers mount in the region, including those in Syria’s neighbor Lebanon over pending indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Many in Lebanon have blamed Syria for the assassination, a claim that Damascus denies. Hariri was a Sunni leader with strong Saudi links, and his killing exacerbated already-strained tensions between Riyadh and Damascus..
An international tribunal investigating Hariri’s death has not announced who will be charged, but the president of a UN tribunal probing the killing, Antonio Cassese, has said he expects an indictment by the end of this year.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said last week members of his group will be among those indicted.
Nasrallah’s announcement appeared to be an attempt to undercut the effects of any indictment, and he dismissed the tribunal as an “Israeli plot.” Many in Lebanon worry that if the tribunal implicates Hizbullah in the Hariri assassination, it could lead to another round of clashes between Lebanon’s Shi”a and Sunni communities, such as the bloody conflict that convulsed Beirut in 2008.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the late Rafik, has first blamed Syria for killing his father. But Hariri’s ties with Damascus have warmed following the Syrian-Saudi rapproachment that led to the formation of a national unity Cabinet headed by Hariri.
The prime minister has so far made four trips to Damascus since he came to office in November 2009.
Tensions in Lebanon have generated so much concern that Assad was expected to accompany the Saudi monarch to Beirut on Friday. Reports said that Assad, the Saudi king, and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman would hold a tripartite summit at Baabda palace on Friday.
However, The Central News Agency (CNA) reported Thursday that the summit, which would be attended by Hariri, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and a number of officials, would not see reconciliation between some Lebanese leaders or between Assad and some Lebanese officials.
The gathering is rather aimed at defusing mounting tensions in light of reports about the possible indictment of Hizbullah in Hariri’s assassination.
Assad’s expected visit to Lebanon is the first since his troops withdrew from the country in April 2005. Similarly, King Abdullah pays his first visit to Beirut since he ascended the throne in the same year. Qatari Emir Hamad Bin Khalifah Al-Thani will also visit Lebanon Friday evening.
Sleiman on Thursday discussed with Hariri the upcoming visits of Arab leaders to Lebanon, along with efforts aimed at enhancing calm and stability in the country. Arab flags fluttered in the main roads leading to Baabda Palace and Rafik Hariri International Airport, along with photos of top Arab leaders visiting Lebanon on Friday.
– Agencies, with The Daily Star
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