PARIS (AlArabiya.net, AFP)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Thursday in Paris he wanted to build "healthy" new ties with Syria, two days after his Damascus counterpart paid a landmark visit to Riyadh delivering a message from the Syrian president.
"There will be other visits between Syria and Saudi Arabia," Prince Saud told reporters following talks with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
"We hope for reconciliation between Syria and Saudi Arabia on healthy foundations," he said.
"Divergences on Arab issues are behind us, buried," said the Saudi minister, who described Tuesday's visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem "very positive."
The Syrian minister delivered a message from President Bashar al-Assad to Saudi King Abdullah, in what diplomats said was a response to a Saudi offer of improved relations.
Past bones of contention between Riyadh and Damascus include the Middle East peace, efforts to secure a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and efforts at reconciliation between Hamas and rival Fatah.
Ties between Damascus and Riyadh nosedived after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, a Saudi citizen and protégé, in a bombing widely blamed on Syria but denied by Damascus.
They were further strained by Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza in December and January. Syria sided with the Islamists while Saudi Arabia joined Egypt in blocking any collective Arab show of solidarity.
The two sides began mending fences last month with a meeting between Assad and King Abdullah on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Kuwait.
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