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Cairo and Riyadh make up at Arab League summit
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Saudi King Salman on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Jordan on Wednesday, breaking the ice after months of tensions between the longtime allies turned frenemies.
Sisi and Salman slipped out of the summit session for face-to-face talks as Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad addressed the leaders of the Arab world.
"The most important meeting at the summit by far was between Sisi and King Salman, which took place while the Qatari emir was giving his speech," The New Arab correspondent Maan al-Bayari reported.
"The meeting has seemingly ended the months-long Cairo-Riyadh rift, which was sparked after the Egyptian media attacked the Tiran and Sanafir islands deal between the two countries,"
"Relations then worsened after the Sisi regime showed signs of reconciliation with Iran and backing for the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad," Bayari added.
Egyptian TV talk show host Lamees al-Hadidy said Sisi and his delegation walked out during the Qatari Emir's speech to express objection to Qatar's alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Sisi regime was supported with billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia in the immediate aftermath of the 2013 military coup against Muslim Brotherhood-aligned President Mohammad Morsi.
The meeting, in which Salman invited Sisi to visit Saudi Arabia, came days after Egypt announced Saudi energy giant Aramco resumed delivering shipments of petroleum products after abruptly suspending them last October.
The move was announced after Egypt voted in favour of a Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution on Syria that Saudi Arabia strongly opposed.
An agreement to hand over to Saudi Arabia two Red Sea islands in the Straits of Tiran, signed during a visit by Salman to Cairo last April, had also foundered on a court ruling that blocked the move.
An Egyptian presidency statement said the two leaders "stressed the importance of pushing forward and developing bilateral relations in all fields" in Wednesday's meeting.
"King Salman invited the president to an official visit to the kingdom, which was welcomed by" Sisi, the presidency said, adding that Sisi also invited Salman to visit Cairo.
Saudi Arabia is a leading supporter of the Syrian opposition, while Egypt has pushed for a political solution that might keep Syrian's dictator Bashar al-Assad in power.