Arab Analyst: Honeymoon in Cairo-Riyadh Relations Ended

Rasa - Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, underlined that Egypt's admission of having differences with Saudi Arabia on the future of Syria shows that the honeymoon in the ties between Cairo and Riyadh has ended.

News ID: 423867

Date: 24 September 2016 - 22:37

RNA - In recent remarks, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that there are differences with Saudi Arabia regarding Syria, stating the reason is that each country has “different visions regarding change of the Syrian leadership".

Shoukry, making his comments at the annual UN General Assembly meetings in New York, said that "Saudi Arabia adopts a position that focuses on changing the ruling system or the Syrian leadership. Egypt does not endorse this notion".

According to Atwan, the wishes and hopes of Saudi King Salman bin Abdolaziz's visit to Egypt were all fallen flat after big gaps were witnessed in the relations between the two countries.

He also referred to the recent UN General Assembly meeting in New York, and said while the Egyptian foreign minister didn’t hold a bilateral meeting with his Saudi counterpart, his meeting with Iranian top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif was reported as fruitful and both of them discussed regional issues, including the crisis in Syria.

"The honeymoon of relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt didn’t last more than three months," Atwan wrote.

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