Saudi king invites Oman's Qaboos to attend culture fest

By Ahmed al-Masry

DOHA, Qatar

In a sign of warming ties, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud has invited Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said to attend the inauguration ceremony of Saudi Arabia’s National Festival for Heritage and Culture, set to begin later this week.

The event, dubbed "Janadriyah 31", will be held in Riyadh on Wednesday under King Salman’s auspices.

The invitation is the second recent sign of rapprochement between the two estranged Gulf States.

In late December, Muscat officially joined a Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism, unveiled one year earlier by the Saudi king.

Earlier the same month, King Salman took a tour of the Gulf -- his first since assuming the throne in 2014 -- in which he visited the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

In a conspicuous omission, however, the king refrained from paying a visit to Oman -- a move seen by some region-watchers as an intentional snub.

Although both countries are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), their regional policies differ on several key issues, including Gulf-Iran relations, Saudi proposals for a "Gulf Union", and ongoing crises in Syria and Yemen.