Syria Today | Saudi intelligence chief visits Damascus

Saudi intelligence chief visits Damascus

Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz made a rare visit to Damascus to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on February 15, a move that signals relations between the Arab rivals are thawing.

Aziz’s visit was the first by a Saudi official to Damascus since Saudi King Abdullah sent an envoy to invite Assad to the Arab League summit in Riyadh in 2007.

Aziz passed on a message from Abdullah insisting on the need to repair bilateral ties and “coordinate actions in the interests of the two peoples”, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

Assad sent a reply which emphasised the importance of Arab solidarity “in the face of challenges confronting the Arab nations, particularly in Palestine”, SANA said.

Following Aziz’s visit, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu’allem travelled to Riyadh on February 24 to present Abdullah with a letter from Assad.

The visit was seen as a further effort on the part of both sides to repair relations ahead of an Arab League summit scheduled for late March in Qatar. Mu’allem also brought with him suggestions on how rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas could be reconciled, AFP reported.

Relations between Damascus and Riyadh nosedived following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a close friend of the Saudi royal family, in February 2005. The Beirut car bombing which killed Hariri was widely blamed on Syria, allegations Damascus has always denied.

Syrian-Saudi tensions came to the fore again during Israel’s three-week offensive on the Gaza Strip which began on December 27. Syria took a firm stance against Israel, openly supporting Hamas as a legitimate resistance movement, while Saudi Arabia put its weight behind the opposing Fatah faction led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt refused to attend an emergency summit meeting held in Doha to form a united Arab position on the war on January 16.

The first steps towards rapprochement between the two camps began on the sidelines of an Arab League Economic Summit in Kuwait on January 19. During the summit, Abdullah told fellow Arab leaders that he wanted to end “the recent period of quarrels” and “open the door of unity”.