RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continued her Mideast tour Thursday, a day after coming under sharp attack from the Bush administration for meeting with Syria's leader.

Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, Wednesday night from Syria, where she defied the White House's Middle East policy by meeting with President Bashar Assad and insisting "the road to Damascus is a road to peace."

She met with Saudi King Abdullah when she first arrived in the kingdom Wednesday and was meeting Thursday with several members of the Shura Council, an unelected advisory assembly named by the king.

The Bush administration accuses Syria of backing Hamas and Hezbollah — two groups it deems terrorist organizations — and has rejected direct talks with Damascus until its changes its ways.

"Unfortunately that road is lined with the victims of Hamas and Hezbollah, the victims of terrorists who cross from Syria into Iraq," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council. "It's unfortunate that she took this unilateral trip which we only see as counterproductive."

The Bush administration also says Syria is fueling Iraq's violence by allowing Sunni insurgents to operate from its territory and is destabilizing Lebanon's government. Syrian security officials have been implicated in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in Beirut, though Damascus has denied a role.

Pelosi was the highest-ranking American politician to visit Syria since relations began to deteriorate in 2003. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell went to Damascus in May 2003.