Syrian, Saudi leaders met to discuss Lebanon, Iraq

RIYADH (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held on Sunday talks with Saudi King Abdullah that analysts and diplomats had expected to tackle tension in Lebanon over a U.N.-backed tribunal and the political void in Iraq.

Assad's second trip to the world's top oil exporting country this year is the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations.

Saudi state news agency SPA only said in a brief report the meeting at Riyadh airport covered Arab, Islamic and international themes, including the Palestinian issue.

The meeting came a few days after a state visit to Lebanon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, whose disputed atomic energy programme Riyadh fears could lead to Tehran becoming a nuclear-weapons state.

The Saudis have been trying to convince Syria to loosen its alliance with Iran and adopt a more Arab-focused foreign policy with the kingdom, dangling the prospect of stronger economic cooperation.

The 2005 killing of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri, who had strong ties with Saudi Arabia, drove a wedge between Riyadh and Damascus. But both have been trying to ease strains over the U.N. tribunal, which may indict members of Hezbollah, Iran's main ally in Lebanon, in connection with Hariri's killing.

Saudi newspapers gave wide coverage to Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon last week. The Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat said: "Iran decided to operate in Lebanon openly rather than from behind a smokescreen."

Assad and Abdullah visited Lebanon together in July to avert a crisis between Hezbollah, also backed by Syria, and factions aligned to Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who is the son of the slain Sunni Muslim leader and who is backed by Riyadh.

Hariri was in Saudi Arabia on a family visit on Sunday but had not been scheduled to join the talks, according to a Lebanese official.

AT ODDS OVER TRIBUNAL

Hezbollah, part of Lebanon's national unity government, has denounced the U.N.-backed court as a tool of U.S. and Israeli policy and called on Hariri to repudiate the tribunal.

While Saudi Arabia and Syria try to defuse tension in Lebanon they so far remain at odds over the legitimacy of the tribunal. Riyadh has long supported the Hague-based court.

Syria, initially implicated by U.N. investigators in the bombing that killed Hariri, has always viewed the tribunal as politically motivated. Syrian officials say any indictments of Hezbollah would be considered to be targeting Syria too.

The Saudis might ask Assad to restrain Hezbollah, Dubai political analyst Theodore Karasik said.

"Keeping a lid on Lebanon's political factions is especially critical in the current security environment," he said.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in July that Hariri had told him the tribunal would indict "rogue" members of the Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group for his father's killing.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally alarmed by Iran's growing regional influence since the 2003 Iraq war, has tried for two years to persuade Damascus to loosen its alliance with Tehran.

But little has emerged on the ground in terms of economic cooperation since King Abdullah visited Syria in a landmark visit last year. Some Saudi firms have put out feelers to Syria.

In April, a private Saudi waste-water company was granted contracts worth around $3 million.

"I don't think that economic relations will take off much any time soon," a Western diplomat in Riyadh said.

Dakhil said Assad and Abdullah also could discuss the political vacuum in Iraq prevailing since an inconclusive election in March, which has fueled concern that insurgents might exploit the void. "In Iraq the differences between Saudis and Syrians are much less than in Lebanon," he said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Editing by Jon Boyle)