Saudi ArabiaSyria's interim president on first trip abroad to Riyadh
SDA
2.2.2025 - 11:02
ARCHIVE - Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace in Damascus. Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP/dpa/Archive photo
Keystone
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has traveled to Saudi Arabia for his first official visit abroad as head of state. The Syrian news agency Sana published a photo that apparently shows him together with Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaybani on board a private plane. A meeting is planned in Riyadh with the Crown Prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
Keystone-SDA
02.02.2025, 11:02
SDA
According to Syrian government circles, the visit was intended to have a "great symbolic effect". A few days later, a visit by al-Sharaa to Turkey was also planned. There was initially no official confirmation of this.
Like Qatar and Turkey, Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead with the rapid expansion of diplomatic relations with the new rulers in Syria. In the Syrian civil war, the three countries initially supported the insurgents who wanted to overthrow the government of ruler Bashar al-Assad. Riyadh financed and armed various opposition groups. Saudi Arabia put diplomatic relations with the Assad government on hold for a long time, but normalized them in 2023 and also pushed for Syria's readmission to the Arab League.
Last December, a rebel alliance led by the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) then surprisingly overthrew the Assad government. Al-Sharaa was appointed interim president.
In the wealthy Gulf state of Saudi Arabia, al-Sharaa is likely to seek support for the reconstruction of Syria, which has been largely destroyed after almost 14 years of civil war. Riyadh could also play a role in trying to resolve conflicts within Syria, for example between the new leadership in Damascus and the Kurdish militias in the north-east.