Over the past 20 years, Saudi Arabia’s relations with Syria have ranked pretty low, exceeded only by those with Iran and Libya. There is a fresh air blowing across the region now, apparently related to the election debacle in Iran, that has provided diplomatic space for rapprochement between the Riyadh and Damascus. Hussein Shobokshi, in his column for Asharq Alawsat looks into this and concludes that getting Syria to moderate its political stances is the result of, well, a wave of moderation sweeping across the region. While never actually mentioning Iran, he points out various issues in which Syria is taking political action in directions that do not serve Iranian interests, from Lebanon to Palestine. The gratuitous swipe at Pres. Bush and Israel in the piece are likely pro forma, but nonetheless unfortunate.

Moderation Wins!
Hussein Shobokshi

The Syrian capital is preparing to receive the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz amid a new atmosphere of comprehensive Arab reconciliation as promised by the Saudi King during the recent Arab Summit that was held in Kuwait.

This visit will aim to achieve a number of strategic objectives, the most important of which perhaps is bringing the issue of Saudi-Syrian disagreement to a close. This issue overshadowed others, most importantly inter-Palestinian reconciliation and of course the complicated Lebanese file.

The initial outcome of Saudi-Syrian rapprochement was evident in the results of the recent parliamentary elections in Lebanon and how the experience passed peacefully and successfully without any real problems for the first time. The whole world is heading towards the path of moderation and balance after having witnessed years of tension, trouble and constant concern whether that is due to terrorism, its discourse and violent ways, or because of the administrations of extremism, which rule with tense agendas and ideologies that have resulted in nothing but suffering in the world and the severance of ties. There are real example of this in George W. Bush, Israel and others.
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