Saudi urges US to play fair in Mideast

A statement issued after the government was briefed on King Abdullah's talks with Cheney during its weekly meeting said the cabinet noted "the direct influence exerted by the United States with regard to the issues of the region."

Accordingly, US influence should be used in a manner "compatible with the realities of the region and its historic balances" and "supportive of its stability," said the statement carried by the state SPA news agency.

Washington should "seek equitable ways of helping end the conflicts" of the area, it added.

Little transpired about Cheney's talks during a lightning visit to Riyadh Saturday, but Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia had earlier implicitly expressed concern about the growing influence of Shiite Iran in war-torn Iraq.

The oil-rich kingdom also warned last week against upsetting the "social balance" in Iraq, an apparent allusion to the perceived marginalization of the Sunni Arab former elite by the ruling Shiite majority amid a wave of tit-for-tat sectarian killings.

In Monday's statement, Saudi Arabia also said "it was time to take seriously the call for an international conference" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Riyadh has repeatedly made in recent weeks.

The Saudi cabinet called on all Lebanese factions to opt for dialogue following the "terrorist" assassination last week of anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel, which widened the rift between Lebanon's pro- and anti-Syrian camps.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, who like Saudi Arabia is a close US ally, expressed concern Sunday at the deteriorating situation on several Middle East fronts, warning that civil wars were brewing among the Palestinians as well as in Iraq and Lebanon.

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