Syria Must End Terror Role Before Britain Renews Relations, Howe Says

Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe told his Saudi Arabian counterpart on Wednesday that Britain has no intention of restoring ties with Syria, British officials said.

During talks with Prince Saud al Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, Howe said that ties with Damascus will not be restored until Britain has proof Syria is no longer involved in terrorist activities, they said.

Earlier Wednesday, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd held more general talks, the second day in the monarch’s four-day state visit to Britain.

Details of the hourlong meeting were sketchy but a spokesman for the prime minister said the talks included “a wide-ranging discussion on the Middle East, the Iran-Iraq War and relations between Israel and the Arabs.”

Fahd reportedly failed to persuade the British leader to reduce Britain’s North Sea oil production to support an attempt by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to stabilize the price of oil at $18 a barrel. Thatcher apparently insisted that the market should take its own course.

More progress was expected before Fahd’s official visit ends Friday on concluding a pact to sell the Saudis $8 billion worth of British aircraft. Under the proposal, the Saudis would take delivery on 132 planes, including British Tornado fighter-bombers.

At a state banquet given in his honor by Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday night, Fahd said that Britain should take a more positive role in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is unhappy about Britain’s severing of diplomatic relations with Damascus last year after Syria was linked to an abortive attempt to blow up an El Al Israel Airlines jumbo jet on a flight from London to Tel Aviv.

Fahd had been expected to ask Thatcher to restore ties with Damascus in exchange for possible Saudi and Syrian help in securing the release of Church of England envoy Terry Waite, who has been held hostage in Lebanon for more than two months.

The Foreign Office said Fahd did not make the request.