Saudi Arabia; the first foreign destination of the Jolani regime delegation.
According to Russia Today, an official in the Foreign Ministry of the Golani regime said on Wednesday night that an official delegation headed by the regime’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, its Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, and the head of the intelligence service Anas Khattab arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night.
A senior Syrian delegation led by foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani arrived in Riyadh on its first official foreign trip since Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels last month. The group, which includes defence minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab, was greeted at Riyadh airport late on Wednesday by the kingdom’s deputy foreign minister Waleed Elkhereiji, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
“Through this first visit in the history of free Syria, we aspire to open a new and bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations, befitting the long shared history between the two countries,” Shaibani said on X. Saudi Arabia had welcomed Assad on several occasions in the past two years as it began re-engaging with the dictator for the first time since the civil war erupted in Syria in 2011. But the kingdom and other Gulf states have moved quickly to embrace the new authorities, dominated by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, after they took over Damascus on December 8.
Arab countries are concerned about further conflict and political instability in the region following devastating wars in Gaza and Lebanon, while Gulf states are also keen to cut the smuggling of Captagon and other illicit drugs originating from Syria. The visit, following an official invitation from the kingdom, comes as Saudi Arabia dispatched three planeloads of humanitarian aid to Syria, including food, shelter and medical supplies. Kuwait’s foreign minister Abdullah al-Yahya and Jasem al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, on Monday met with Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa.