Saudi Arabia

14 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir has praised the US-drafted Middle East peace plan to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict known as “deal of the century” saying it contains positive elements for negotiations.

“There are positive elements in Trump’s peace plan,” Al-Jubeir said on the sidelines of his visit to Romania on Thursday, adding that the elements “may establish the basis for negotiation between the two sides”.

14 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has launched a new campaign of arbitrary arrests against several Palestinian expatriates living in the kingdom for supporting the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas.

04 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia intends to buy weapons from Israel’s Rafael company which is known for its precision missiles, Hebrew news sites have reported.

Israel Defence Magazine said yesterday that Saudi Arabia has expressed a desire to purchase equipment from Rafael and if permission is obtained from Israeli authorities, arms can be supplied to the kingdom through its European representative, Euro Spike.

04 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi and American officials have held talks in Syria’s north-eastern province of Al-Hasakah on Riyadh potentially financing Arab forces backed by the United States (US) and affiliated to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), local sources reported yesterday.

The sources told Arabi21 that the US support had come under the pretext of “resisting the Iranian expansion attempts in north-eastern Syria.”

04 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia yesterday refused a recent request by Turkey to obtain the investigation file conducted by the Riyadh Criminal Court on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkey’s Yeni Şafak quoted local legal sources as saying that that the public prosecutor in the country’s city of Istanbul had submitted an official request to the Saudi authorities through Ankara’s justice, seeking details about the trial of those convicted in the murder.

03 Feb 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia and Kuwaiti yesterday started preparing for the resumption of production from the Khafji oilfield jointly operated by the two countries.

Kuwait’s Al-Rai quoted local sources as saying that the field’s administration had begun testing oil and gas pipelines and facilities,” adding that the field’s initial output was expected by the “end of February.”

30 Jan 2020; MEMO: The Saudi Kingdom announced on Wednesday its support for the US president, Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”, as announced in the White House and endorsed by Israel.

RIYADH/CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab powers appear to be prioritizing close ties with the United States that are vital to countering Iran over traditional unswerving support for the Palestinians in their reaction to President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Across the vast expanse of this desert air base, hundreds of tents have popped up and a newly arrived squadron of U.S. Air Force F-15E fighters is lined up on the tarmac, flying daily missions over Iraq and Syria. Off in the distance, two American Patriot missile batteries are scanning the skies, prepared to knock down any Iranian attack against the Saudi kingdom.

28 Jan 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Israelis were not welcome to visit the kingdom after Israel decreed that Israeli citizens could visit Saudi Arabia under certain circumstances, CNN reported on Monday, Reuters reports.

“Our policy is fixed. We do not have relations with the state of Israel and Israeli passport holders cannot visit the kingdom at the current time,” the US broadcaster quoted Prince Faisal bin Farhan as saying.