Syrian interim president visit Saudi Arabia on his first official trip abroad

The interim president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first international visit from the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, state media reported.

Accompanied by its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asaad al-Shaibani, Sharaa was received by Saudi officials when disembarking, according to images of the state television channel Al-Ekhbariya.

The radio station said that Sharaa was expected to meet with the Saudi de facto ruler, the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salmanbut did not specify when.

The Syrian state news agency also reported that Sharaa and Shaibani will meet with Prince Mohammed in Riyadh, without providing more details.

The Syrian presidency had previously published in X a photograph of Sharaa and Shaibani aboard what seemed to be a private plane on the way to Saudi Arabia, qualifying it as a “first official visit.”

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

First to congratulate him

King Salman of Saudi Arabia and his son, Prince Mohammed, were among the first to congratulate him for his official appointment.

Syrian authorities have the rich gulf countries to finance The reconstruction of your devastated nation by war and reactivate its economy.

At the end of December, Sharaa declared in an interview with the Saudi Canal al-Arabiya that the kingdom “will undoubtedly play an important role” in the future of Syria, highlighting a “great investment opportunity.”

He told the channel that he was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked, and that he had spent there the first seven years of his life.

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

He said that Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, “would benefit directly” from the stabilization of Syria.

“Iran is now excluded from the Syrian panorama, which weakens its regional influence, and drug trafficking from Syria to the Gulf countries, which had been a destabilizing factor, is now a thing of the past.”

Distant Damascus from Tehran was a “strategic service” to Riad, he added.

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

Syria is also pressing to raise international sanctions that have affected their economy.

The sanctions date back to 1979, when the United States described Syria as “sponsoring state of terrorism,” but Washington and other Western powers intensified significantly when Assad repressed the anti -government protests in 2011 and unleashed the civil war.

The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia visited Damascus last month and promised to help achieve the end of the restrictions.

Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said during his visit that Riad was involved in “an active dialogue with all relevant countries, whether the United States or the European Union, and we are listening to positive messages.”

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

On Thursday, Damascus received the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, who “stressed the urgent need to form a government that represents all spectra” of Syrian society to “consolidate stability and advance in projects of Reconstruction, development and prosperity ».