Nine Reasons For Deterioration in Saudi-Syrian Relations

 In an article in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 'Abd Al-Rahman

Al-Rashed, the paper's former editor who is now the director of

Al-Arabiya TV, set out the main reasons for the deterioration in

Saudi-Syrian relations:

 1) U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1559, stating that Syria had to evacuate its forces from Lebanon. Saudi Arabia supported this resolution.

 2) The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, which Syria is generally thought to have masterminded.

 3) The continued assassinations of anti-Syrian political figures in

Lebanon.

 4) Syria's involvement in facilitating passage through its territory to

Saudi citizens on their way to wage jihad in Iraq.

 5) Syrian insults to Saudi National Security Council Secretary Bandar

bin Sultan and also to the Saudi military attaché in Damascus.

 6) The political/media clash between Syria and Saudi Arabia during the

war, and Assad's speech on "half-men."

 7) Syria's alliance with Iran against the Gulf countries and the other

Arab countries

 8) Syrian Vice President Al-Shara's December 2006 accusations that Saudi

Arabia was turning the dispute between the two countries into a personal

matter.

 9) Syria's support for Hizbullah's attempts to topple Lebanon's

Al-Siniora government.