Saudis seek greater US role in Mideast

New Saudi King Salman is expected to use President Barack Obama's stopover today to push for greater US involvement in resolving Middle East crises, analysts say.

Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle, is cutting short a visit to India to convey his condolences after the death of ailing King Abdullah last Friday.

Following the death, Obama in a statement paid tribute to the late king as a bold leader who made an enduring contribution to Middle East peace.

The American president praised Abdullah's "steadfast and passionate belief in the importance of the US-Saudi relationship."

But despite the longstanding strategic partnership between the world's biggest oil exporter and one of its major buyers, analysts say Riyadh has grown dissatisfied with what it sees as a lack of US engagement with the region's key issues.

Anwar Eshki, chairman of the Jeddah-based Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies, said "divergences persist" between the two sides.

These differences include the battle against the Islamic State jihadist group, Yemen, Syria and Libya, Eshki said.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours in September joined a US-led coalition conducting air strikes against IS in Syria.

Despite this cooperation, Riyadh thinks "it is necessary to eliminate the underlying reasons" that led to the emergence of IS, chiefly discrimination against Sunni Muslims in Iraq, Eshki said.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes confirmed in New Delhi that Yemen's turmoil and the battle against IS would figure on the agenda.

"I'm sure that while we are there, they will touch on some of the leading issues where we cooperate very closely with Saudi Arabia," he said.