JEDDAH, 18 March 2004 — Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday held talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, on Iraq, Palestine and other regional issues.
“The talks focused on major developments in the region, most importantly the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Top officials including Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, attended the talks.
The two leaders also discussed the Kurdish unrest in northwestern Syria. Last Monday, the Kingdom’s Cabinet denounced “the deplorable acts of violence and sabotage in Hassake and other towns in the same province,” and expressed hope that the security, stability and prosperity of the country would continue.
The diplomatic source said the talks also covered ways of strengthening bilateral ties and the preparations for an Arab summit due to be held in Tunis on March 29-30. Foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League held talks earlier this month in Cairo to draw up a blueprint for a reform of the organization.
The discussions in Riyadh also covered a US plan for democratic reform in the Middle East, an issue the ministers decided to refer to their heads of state to discuss in Tunis.
The “Greater Middle East Initiative” has been widely rejected by Arab states, which insist that reform cannot be imposed from the outside.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Bashar on Sunday in Damascus to discuss the need for internal reforms in the region, Egypt’s state television reported Monday.
