JEDDAH, 30 October 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday held talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora as well as Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
The Saudi Press Agency confirmed the meeting at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah, adding that Muallem had handed to the king a message from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
King Abdullah also received Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri, who conveyed to the king a message from President Pervez Musharraf.
Muallem, who is on a Gulf tour after a UN report implicated senior Syrian officials in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, will also visit the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, diplomats said.
A Lebanese source close to Siniora’s delegation said the prime minister was expected to discuss with King Abdullah the latest developments in Lebanon.
Muallem’s tour “comes within the framework of inter-Arab consultations on ways of containing the crisis” sparked by the UN report.
Syria announced yesterday it was setting up its own probe into Hariri’s murder. It said the new investigation would work in cooperation with the United Nations’ commission of inquiry.
The move comes amid threats of sanctions and pressure on Damascus to step up cooperation with the UN probe. The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution from the United States, France and Britain, which threatens Damascus with economic and diplomatic sanctions if it does not fully cooperate with the probe. Syria has rejected the UN report as biased and false.
