Since late Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has been making brief stops in four Mideast nations in order to calm the rising tensions in Lebanon and promote Arab unity. The King’s tour began in Egypt and ended in Jordan.
AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi
While in a Sinai resort town, King Abdullah met with President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the Mideast peace process and Lebanon. Their meeting lasted only one hour.
After that, Abdullah went to Syria where he was greeted at a Damascus airport by President Bashar al-Assad. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are easing tensions that started in 2005, when Saudi ally, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiki Hariri, was assassinated. It is believed that a Syrian killed Hariri, which Syria firmly denies.
During their meeting, the King urged al-Assad to use his influence over Hezbollah, a Lebanese resistance movement, to avoid any conflicts.
Once the meeting was over, both leaders went to Beirut together. Although things have been tense with Syria and Lebanon, diplomatic ties have been warming up lately, with current Prime Minister Saad Hariri visiting Damascus five times since 2008.
In Beirut, King Abdullah, President al-Assad met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. A statement from the presidency said the leaders had discussed “ways to reinforce national accord and Lebanon’s stability” and stressed the need to avoid violence.
AP Photo/Ahmad Omar
Also at the meeting was Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, who said the issue over a tribunal indicting a rogue Hezbollah member over Hariri’s father’s murder, was raised during the closed-door talks.
“The (meeting) discussed the tribunal decision … and how it will reflect on the situation in Lebanon,” he told Reuters. “We consider this a very sensitive and dangerous subject, (that is) putting the tribunal under Israel’s service against the resistance.”
Lebanese political analyst Suleiman Taqi al-Deen said the Saudi-Syrian visit was “important, exceptional and pre-emptive.”
“It is the first time it happens before a situation in Lebanon explodes. It is an understanding to defuse the Lebanese problem because if it explodes its consequences will be very dangerous on the region,” he told Reuters.
REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (
After the historic meeting in Beirut, King Abdullah went next to Jordan where he met its King, also named Abdullah. There, the Saudi King told his counterpart about his talks in Lebanon, and even the Palestinian issue.
“The two leaders stressed their backing for Lebanon’s efforts to enhance its stability, security, unity and national accord,” a Jordanian palace statement said.
“Saudi Arabia and Jordan support the Palestinian people in seeking to restore their rights,” the statement went on to say. “A two-state solution is the only way to achieve security and stability in the region.”
After the Friday meeting, the Jordanian King hosted an official dinner for the Saudi King. The latter then returned to Riyadh.
The Saudi King’s Mideast tour came at a time when the results of a UN tribunal’s investigation into Hariri’s murder — expected to be announced by the end of 2010 — have sparked tensions in Lebanon.
The tense atmosphere is further hurt by threats of a war against Lebanon by Israel, who has been accusing Hezbollah of receiving weapons from Syria — a claim also echoed by the United States. Both Lebanese and Syrian officials strongly dismiss the accusations.
Sources: Xinhua, PressTV, EarthTimes, AFP, Reuters
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