Roots of Saudi-Syrian clash

[N.O.R.F]

Published: 07/20/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)

 

Roots of Saudi-Syrian clash

By Marwan Al Kabalan, Special to Gulf News

 

 

 

For 50 years, at least since the establishment of the Baghdad Pact in 1955, Syrian-Saudi relations have been fraught with fear and suspicion.

 

The case has never been as clear as it appeared last week, when the two countries took completely different positions on the current Israeli attack on Lebanon.

 

During the Arab League emergency meeting in Cairo, the foreign ministers of the two countries traded barbs over whether Hezbollah bore any responsibility for the escalation in violence that followed its capture of two Israeli soldiers. The Saudi foreign minister was quoted as saying that Hezbollah's actions were "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible".

 

His Syrian counterpart, Walid Al Muallem, lashed back, asking, "How can we come here to discuss the burning situation in Lebanon while others are making statements criticising the resistance."

 

These different interpretations of the ongoing crisis in Lebanon are not unexpected in the light of the many differences between the two countries.

 

Syria and Saudi Arabia have two different political systems; different historical experiences and different domestic conditions. They deal with different threats and hence they pursue different foreign policy objectives.

 

Close ties

 

Saudi Arabia is a conservative oil-rich country that has always maintained close ties with the US and relied on it for security. Syria, by contrast, is ruled by more radical leftist elite; and given its bitter experience with European colonialism, has always had difficult relations with the West. These differences were crystal clear since the 1950s and up until the 1980s; wherein Syria and Saudi Arabia took different sides during the Iran-Iraq war.

 

Despite these differences, however, the two countries have always tried to keep a minimum degree of understanding. The end of the Cold War and subsequent Middle Eastern events helped bring them closer together.

 

In 1990, Syria surprised many when it joined the US and Saudi Arabia in a broad coalition to expel the Iraqi army from Kuwait. In 1996 the two countries, alongside Egypt, formed the so-called "tripartite axis" to face the challenges to peace posed by then rightwing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

The tripartite axis survived until after the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation force from south Lebanon and the death of Syrian president Hafez Al Assad in June 2000. Since then differences between the two countries floated on the surface and Lebanon and peace in the Middle East were key to them.

 

Saudi Arabia supported the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, whereas Syria supported his principal rival president Emile Lahoud. The Saudi peace initiative, announced during the Beirut Arab summit, caused further tension between the two countries. At the time Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz offered normal diplomatic and economic relations with Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from the 1967 occupied Arab territories.

 

The conflict between Syria and Saudi Arabia became open only after the assassination of Rafik Hariri. The Saudi government suspected a Syrian role in the elimination of Hariri and joined forces with France and the US to expel the Syrians from Lebanon. The two countries took also different sides in the power struggle in the Palestinian territories.

 

Syria supported Hamas wherein Saudi Arabia supported Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, calling upon the Islamic movement to recognise Israel and join the peace process.

 

The two countries differed also in dealing with Iran and Iraq. Despite that Saudi Arabia and Syria have both opposed the US invasion of Iraq; their policies widely diverged after the collapse of the Saddam regime. Riyadh accepted the US occupation as a fact; Syria rejected it and supported the Iraqi resistance.

 

Disagreement

 

On Iran, the two countries are in even more disagreement, caused by their geopolitical interests as well as their ideological stand. Geopolitically, Saudi Arabia is more concerned about Iran?s regional ambitions and its quest for nuclear weapons. The fear that Iran might use Saudi Arabia?s large Shiite community as a Trojan horse to destabilise the Saudi royal family is also a matter of great concern.

 

Besides, the revolutionary nature of the Iranian regime, reinvigorated by the ascendance of Iran?s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has caused panic in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has also complained about Iran?s endeavour to establish a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq and is seen largely as a key oil-exporting rival.

 

By contrast, Iran is Syria?s major and only ally in the region. Given its geopolitical location, Syria does not seem to be concerned about Iran?s nuclear and regional ambitions. Syria fears Israel more than Iran and the alliance with it is seen by Damascus as fundamental to its national security and wellbeing. Syria does not seem also to be bothered by the so-called Shiite crescent or Iranian revolutionary expansionism.

 

In the light of all these differences, Syria and Saudi Arabia are bound to take different sides and the latest episode of violence in Lebanon was only the tip of the iceberg.

 

Dr Marwan Al Kabalan is a lecturer in media and international relations, Faculty of Political Science and Media, Damascus University, Syria.

 

Source

[Xoogsade]

Ever since the Iraq invasion by the US, the middle east has been in turmoil. The most shocking of all is to read Iraqis are killing each other to the tune of a hundred per day. Babies are not even safe from the sectarian violence. The region was realing with the images beamed from iraq and now Lebanon's destraction. you can understand why the Saudis are nervous and are blaming the only people they can, their own brethren.