According to the Syrian daily “Al-Watan”, Assad and Abdullah are to hold a summit in the Saudi capital and will focus on their bilateral ties as well as the political crisis in Lebanon, the Iraqi government, and the stumbling peace process in the region.
Political sources told the Saudi Al-Hayat daily that both Arab leaders would review what they had already agreed on during their Damascus summit on August 29, and the three party summit, with President Michel Sleiman, in Beirut the following day.
“It is possible that during the Riyadh summit, ideas could be raised to tackle the differences in Lebanon, and to invite President Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and PM Hariri to the Kingdom to take part in the talks and to establish any amendment or improvement to the August 30 summit agreements,” the sources told Al-Hayat.
A Syrian political source told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that al-Assad’s visit to the Kingdom, which follows the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon last Wednesday and Thursday, is “in the interest and support of Arab solidarity to confront the challenges of the present phase”. President Al-Assad will be accompanied on his visit by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Al-Moallem and other senior officials.
Assad and Abdallah discuss Iraq and Iran ...
"Syria's ties to Iran and the political void in Iraq are expected to figure in talks on Sunday when Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, analysts and diplomats said. The two leaders also are expected to discuss tensions in Lebanon over a U.N.-backed tribunal. The meeting comes days after a state visit to Lebanon last week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran ... Riyadh has been trying to convince Syria to loosen its alliance with Iran ...
"I think the main theme will be Lebanon," Saudi political analyst Khaled al-Dakhil said. Saudi newspapers gave wide coverage to Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon last week. Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat said: "Iran had decided to operate in Lebanon openly rather than from behind a smokescreen."....
Hezbollah, which is part of the national unity government, has denounced the U.N.-backed court as a tool of U.S. and Israeli policy and called on Hariri to repudiate the tribunal. While Saudi Arabia and Syria try to calm tensions in Lebanon they so far remain at odds over the tribunal. Riyadh has long supported the Hague-based court. Syria, initially implicated by U.N. investigators of the bombing that killed Hariri, always has viewed the tribunal as politically motivated. Syrian officials say any indictments of Hezbollah would be considered as targeting Syria too.
The Saudis might ask Assad to restrain Hezbollah, Dubai political analyst Theodore Karasik said. "Keeping a lid on Lebanon's political factions is especially critical in the current security environment," he said.... But little has emerged on the ground in terms of economic cooperation since King Abdullah visited Syria in a landmark visit last year. Some Saudi firms have put out feelers to Syria.
In April, a private Saudi waste-water company was granted contracts worth around $3 million. "I don't think that economic relations will take off much any time soon," a Western diplomat in Riyadh said. Dakhil said Assad and Abdullah also could discuss the political vacuum in Iraq after an inconclusive vote in March, fuelling concerns that insurgents might exploit the void. "In Iraq the differences between Saudis and Syrians are much less than in Lebanon," Dakhil said.
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