Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is meeting in Damascus with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. This was reported Tuesday by the Syrian news agency Sana.
Details of the talks have not yet been disclosed.
Earlier on Tuesday, Al Arabiya TV reported that Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud had arrived in Damascus on his first official visit since 2011. For its part, the Saudi MFA noted on its Twitter page that the visit comes amid the kingdom's "desire and interest in achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis that will end all its consequences, contribute to preserving [the territorial integrity] of Syria and its identity, [establishing in the country] security and stability, and allow it to restore [relations] with its surrounding Arab countries." According to Syria's General directorate of radio and television, the Saudi minister will stay in Damascus for only a few hours.
He held talks with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last week, following which the two sides issued a joint statement. The visit of the senior Syrian official to Saudi Arabia, which was also the first since diplomatic relations between the countries were severed in 2011, preceded a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq on the issue of resuming Syria's full membership in the Arab League.
The meeting, held in Jeddah under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, did not take a final decision on Syria's return to the League, but agreed on the need to continue consultations.
Damascus' membership in the Arab League was suspended in November 2011 at the height of the Syrian civil war. Most Arab countries, failing to obtain concessions from the Syrian authorities in favor of the opposition, withdrew their ambassadors and joined the economic boycott of Syria. Recently, Arab countries, including Bahrain, the UAE and Oman, resumed the work of their diplomatic missions in Damascus, but the restoration of Syria's membership in the League is still controversial among members of the organization.
Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Damascus and joined the economic boycott of Syria in 2011. During the armed conflict, Riyadh provided financial support to opposition militias against the government. Since 2018, Saudi diplomacy has joined efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis politically.
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Photo: anjči/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS