Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam arrived unexpectedly Sunday in Saudi Arabia for talks expected to focus on the Iran-Iraq war and efforts to convene an Arab summit conference.
The official Saudi press agency said Khaddam was given a ceremonial greeting usually reserved for heads of state and met with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia a short time later.
Khaddam gave the king a letter from Syrian President Hafez Assad, but the agency gave no details on the nature of the talks or the contents of the message.
Saudi Arabia is Syria’s main financial backer despite its criticism of Damascus’ relations with Iran. The oil-rich kingdom had sponsored several attempts to reconcile Syria and Iraq — two powerful Arab countries that are ruled by rival factions of the Baath (renaissance) Party.
The previously-unannounced trip comes less than a week after Libya on Thursday restored diplomatic relations with Iraq following a two-year break.
Syria and Libya are Iran’s main supporters in its 7-year-old war with Iraq and it was believed the Libyan move would put pressure on Damascus to follow suit.
Khaddam’s visit also came a few hours after an unusually tough statement against Iran by the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council — a loose defensive and economic alliance that was set up nine months after the outbreak of the gulf war in September 1980.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman Sunday denounced Iran for its ‘acts of sedition and troublemaking’ and urged Iran to match Iraq’s positive response and accept a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an end to the Persian Gulf hostitlities.
Gulf-based diplomats said the Saudi-Syrian talks were expected to focus on the war and current efforts to convene a summit meeting of the heads of state from the 21-member Arab League.
Such a summit has been postponed several times due to inter-Arab differences, including the tense Iraqi-Syrian relationship.
Arab League foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Tunisia Sept. 20 — a deadline set by at an Aug. 25 meeting for Iran to comply with Resolution 598 for a cease-fire or risk a break of relations with the 21-member Arab League.
