Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will visit Saudi Arabia within two days for talks expected to focus on the crisis in Lebanon, an Arab diplomat told AFP on Tuesday. The visit, expected on Wednesday or Thursday, follows a reported promise by Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara during talks here on Monday that Damascus would work on setting a timetable for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. Assad will discuss "developments in Lebanon and the Arab world with Saudi leaders," the diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity. Shara told Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz that Syria would "work on setting a timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon within the framework of the Taef accord and in coordination with the Lebanese authorities," Syrian ambassador Ahmed Nizameddin told AFP on Monday. He was referring to the Saudi-sponsored 1989 accord which ended the 15-year Lebanese civil war a year later. It provided for a pullback of Syrian forces to eastern Lebanon and for the Lebanese and Syrian authorities to agree on the duration of their presence there. Shara visited Saudi Arabia as the crisis sparked by the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri two weeks ago came to a head in Beirut with the resignation of Hariri's pro-Syrian successor Omar Karameh.