King Abdullah and President Bashar al-Assad “affirmed that they care about backing concord in Lebanon and support all what contributes to its stability and unity,” according to Reuters, as they met in advance of joint travel to Beirut on Friday. Their efforts are meant to defuse tensions arising from impending indictments in the assassination of former Lebanon Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and head off possible Sunni-Shiite violence.
King Abdullah was in Damascus as part of his four-country journey to discuss Lebanon, Arab unity, Middle East peace and Iran. The Saudi monarch is traveling in the region in what the U.S. State Department called his “significant leadership role.”
In its overnight report on the developments KGS’ “NightWatch“ commented July 29 that:
“The King has undertaken another strenuous trip through Arab lands to build an Arab front that blocks Iranian influence in Syria and inroads in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The Syrian Alawites, the Sunni Palestinians of Hamas and the Shiite Arabs of Lebanese Hezbollah have afforded the Persians unprecedented access to Arab lands and business. The Saudi King continues to try to limit or reverse the damage to what passes for Arab unity from Iranian subversion. Thus far his energies have been misspent. His initiatives have not weakened Iranian influence in any of the three target entities.”
