(AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Monday in Saudi Arabia ahead of an extraordinary summit in Mecca expected to focus on the Syria conflict, on which Tehran and Riyadh have taken opposing sides.

Ahmadinejad arrived in the Muslim holy city of Medina, in western Saudi Arabia, SPA state news agency said, adding that he visited the mosque and tomb of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

The summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

“The world today is in a very sensitive situation,” Ahmadinejad told reporters just before leaving Tehran, according to the Fars news agency.

“Different groups are at work and the enemies are actively pursuing their aims and a great deal of energy is being spent by Islamic governments and groups on arguing and confronting each other,” he said.

“I hope that the summit will focus on increasing unity and lowering antagonism,” he said.

Saudi Arabia hosts the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member pan-Muslim body.

The oil-rich Gulf nation, a close US ally that observes an extreme version of Sunni Islam, supports the mostly Sunni rebels in Syria fighting to overthrow the Shiite-dominated regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.