Syria’s Foreign Minister visits Saudi Arabia on first official trip

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday on the first visit abroad by officials of the new Syrian government installed after the overthrow of former president Bashar Al Assad last month.

“I have just arrived in the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by the Minister of Defence Murhaf Abu Qasra and the Head of the General Intelligence Service Anas Khattab,” Mr Al Shibani said in a statement on X.

“Through this first visit in the history of Free Syria, we aspire to open a new, bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations that befits the long shared history between the two countries,” he said.

Countries in the region and the West have reached out to Syria’s new leadership, headed by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham leader Ahmad Al Shara, since the group once affiliated with Al Qaeda led a rebel offensive that toppled Mr Al Assad on December 8.

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Oman pledged support for Syria in phone calls with Mr Al Shibani this week, and the Charge d’Affaires of the European Union Mission, Michael Onmacht, held talks with the Foreign Minister in Damascus.

Syrian state media said Mr Al Shibani’s visit to Saudi Arabia was at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan. The Syrian delegation was received at Riyadh airport by the Saudi Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed bin Abdulkarim El Khereiji, it said.

Mr Al Shara told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel in an interview last week that the kingdom “will certainly have a large role in Syria’s future”, pointing to “a big investment opportunity for all neighbouring countries”.

Syria’s economy and infrastructure have been devastated by more than 13 years of civil war that began with a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests by Mr Al Assad’s forces in 2011.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Mr Al Assad’s government in 2012, along with other Arab states. But Riyadh restored ties last year and was instrumental in Syria’s return to the Arab League, ending its regional isolation.

Gulf countries had sought assurance from Mr Al Assad that Damascus would stop the flow of the drug Captagon from Syria. The amphetaminelike narcotic was Syria’s most valuable export in the final years of Mr Al Assad’s rule, with the value of the trade estimated to be billions of dollars.