Will warmer Syrian-Saudi relations help resolve the thorny regional conflicts, wonders Bassel Oudat in Damascus Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad arrived in Riyadh last week on his third visit to Saudi Arabia since the two countries embarked on a course of rapprochement. In a terse statement following his meeting with King Abdullah, the Syrian president said that the talks focussed on inter- Palestinian reconciliation, the peace process, Iran, the war in Yemen, and the upcoming Arab summit in Libya. Al-Assad spent three days in all in Saudi Arabia, but only the first day was reported fully in the media. The rest of the visit was considered private. According to Syrian sources, "the visit was of an 'intimate nature' and aimed to develop 'amity and friendship' between the two countries and their leaders." Only days before the visit, news reports speculated about a possible three-way summit in Riyadh involving Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Syrian officials voiced their belief that a three-way summit would have been helpful because of Egypt's Arab and regional status. But Saudi sources said that no arrangements were made for such a summit. This prompted Syrian analysts to conclude that Syrian-Egyptian relations are still sour despite reconciliatory meetings held between Al-Assad and Mubarak in Kuwait in January 2009 and in Riyadh two months later. According to Syrian sources, Al-Assad and Abdullah discussed inter-Palestinian reconciliation and its impact on inter-Arab reconciliation. The two leaders stressed the need for active Arab efforts to achieve reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas as a step towards lifting the siege on the Palestinian people. Bothaina Shaaban, a top Syrian presidential aide, said that Syria supports Palestinian reconciliation and is exerting efforts to achieve it. The Syrians, she added, "are not looking for a role to play, but want to achieve reconciliation at any time and place." Her remarks should be taken as a hint that Syria welcomes the Egyptian sponsorship of the inter-Palestinian reconciliation. Shaaban said that this is the most important thing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would discuss in Syria in his upcoming visit to Damascus in a few days. Two days before leaving for Riyadh, Al-Assad met Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal to discuss matters related to Palestinian reconciliation. Earlier, Meshaal visited Riyadh and met with the Saudi foreign minister to discuss the same issue. Hamas sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Saudis sent Meshaal a firm US warning to the effect that reconciliation should take place and that Hamas must accept US peace proposals. Developments in Lebanon and Iraq were briefly discussed in the Syrian-Saudi talks, with both sides voicing satisfaction over the progress in Syrian-Lebanese relations. Al-Assad and Abdullah also voiced hope that the Iraqi elections would bring the Iraqis together and help resolve their differences. The Iranian and Yemeni questions were among the most complicated issues facing the two leaders. Observers say that it is unlikely that Al-Assad and Abdullah reached a satisfactory agreement on these two questions. On the eve of his departure to Riyadh, President Al-Assad received a phone call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Al-Assad said that, "relations between Tehran and Damascus are strategic and doctrinal," adding that, "the enemies will not be able to undermine the good relations between our countries... and the defeatists will not achieve anything in the end." Syria's news agency didn't report the phone call. The day Al-Assad arrived in Riyadh, Ahmadinejad lashed out at the Saudi role in Yemen. Speaking on television only hours before Al-Assad arrived in Damascus, Ahmadinejad said that, "Saudi Arabia should seek to consolidate peace not to use weapons against Muslims," a reference to the operations Saudi troops are carrying out against infiltrators from the Huthi tribes. "If only a small part of Saudi weapons were used for Gaza's sake against the Zionist regime, that regime would have disappeared from the region," the Iranian president added. His remarks were widely seen as an attempt to embarrass Al-Assad and dampen Syrian-Saudi ties. Only one day before Al-Assad's visit, Syrian Ambassador to Riyadh Mahdi Dakhlallah, said that the Syrian-Saudi summit would look into "the Iranian dossier and its repercussions for the security of the Gulf and the Arab region". This was the first Syrian admission that the Iranian dossier affects Gulf security. Al-Assad's advisor Shaaban said that Damascus was trying to narrow the differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran. "Saudi Arabia doesn't want to have bad relations with Iran, and the opposite is true," she pointed out. Syrian sources tried to give the impression that King Abdullah asked Al-Assad to stop Iranian support to the Huthi rebels who have infiltrated into Saudi territory. But official Saudi forces denied the request, saying that Saudi officials "only wanted to hear the Syrian point of view on the matter. We didn't ask the Syrians for anything in this regard." According to official Syrian sources, the discussion between Al-Assad and Abdullah concerning Yemen was "profound, cordial, and transparent" and involved "deep discussions, expected to produce results". Al-Assad and Abdullah voiced support to Yemen and its leadership and said that they were concerned for Yemen's peace, security and territorial integrity. A Saudi source declined to confirm news that the Syrians were trying to resolve the crisis in Yemen. About a month ago, Syria denounced the violation of Saudi territories by Huthi rebels from Yemen. Syrian officials voiced support for the kingdom's right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, a view that conflicts with Iranian policy. Emad Fawzi Al-Shoeibi, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Damascus, told the Weekly that Al-Assad and Abdullah agreed that Yemen's problems should not be internationalised and that Yemen should remain united as a land and people. Al-Shoeibi added that the internationalisation of the situation in Yemen may lead to "grave dangers". He said that Syria believes that "the mere introduction of another Arab country in the equation of internationalisation would make the snowball of internationalisation, which is encroaching on Arab sovereignty, grow bigger and bigger." The Syrian and Saudi leaders also discussed the two matters of Arab reconciliation and the upcoming Arab summit due to be held in Libya in March. According to Syrian sources, Al-Assad's talks in Riyadh furthered the efforts for Arab reconciliation and aimed to resolve Arab issues without foreign intervention. The two leaders, sources said, discussed preparations for the upcoming Arab summit and affirmed the need to take a firm and even-handed position. Political analysts believe that Syrian and Saudi officials are still "testing the waters" with regard to their future relations. The Saudis still view Syrian-Iranian relations with suspicion. Most likely, the Saudis are waiting to see Damascus take a clear position on Iranian intervention in the region, especially in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Palestine.
