Syrian interim President Sharaa meets Saudi Crown Prince in Riyadh – World

Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, met with the heir prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman in Riad on Sunday, Saudi state agency SPA reported.

The live television images showed Sharaa shaking their hand with the heir prince in the Saudi capital before sitting down. The Syrian leader was accompanied during his visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asaad Hassan Al-Sibani.

Sharaa is in Saudi Arabia for his first international visit since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, said his office.

The Presidency published a photo in X from Sharaa and its Minister of Foreign Affairs on board what appeared to be a private plane with the subtitle “President Sharaa and Asaad al-Shaibani travel to Saudi Arabia, first official visit.”

Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the overthrow of Assad in December, was appointed interim president on Wednesday.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and his son, the de facto ruler of the country, the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, were among the first to congratulate the Sharaa for their official appointment.

‘Strategic Service’

Rabha Seif Alam, a regional expert at the Center for Political and Strategic Studies of Al-Ahram in Cairo, said Riad was “playing a key role in the reintegration of the new Syria in the Arab world and on the international scene.”

She said Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, would “directly benefit” Syria stabilization.

“Iran is now excluded from the Syrian landscape, weakening its regional influence, and Syrian drug trafficking to the Gulf countries, which had been a destabilizing factor, is now a thing of the past.” Distinguishing Damascus from Tehran was a “strategic service” for Riad, he added.

Although Saudi Arabia and Iran ended a seven -year diplomatic freezing in 2023, regional heavyweights disagree with multiple geopolitical issues, including civil war in Syria, where they supported the opposite sides.

Syria is also pressing for the lifting of international sanctions that have dragged their economy.

The sanctions date back to 1979, when the United States described Syria as a “state terrorism sponsor,” but Washington and other Western powers increased significantly when Assad took energetic measures against anti -government protests in 2011 and caused the civil war.

Syrian authorities have the rich gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of their nation devastated by war and relive their economy.

On Thursday, Damascus received Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani de Qatar, who “emphasized the urgent need to form a government that represents all spectra” of Syrian society to “consolidate stability and move forward with reconstruction projects , development and prosperity. “

According to Damascus, the two parties discussed reconstruction.

The new Syrian authorities have received a constant flow of diplomatic visitors since they demolished Assad in December.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *