US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met King Abdullah on Friday in the Saudi capital, state news agency SPA said, as she kicked off a two-country tour aimed at raising pressure on the Syrian regime. It said Defence Minister Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal and the kingdom’s intelligence chief, Mogran bin Abdul Aziz, also took part in the meeting but gave no further details. Clinton is due on Saturday to hold talks in Riyadh with ministers of Saudi Arabia’s five Gulf Arab neighbours — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — before broader meetings on Sunday with Arab, Turkish and Western officials in Istanbul. Aides said Clinton will discuss how to make President Bashar al-Assad comply with a new plan to end his crackdown on a pro-democracy movement, study further sanctions against his regime and consider ways to aid the opposition who will be in Istanbul.