Saudi FM in Syria after landmark visit to Lebanon

BEIRUT — Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud arrived in Syria on Friday following a landmark visit to Lebanon, signaling Saudi Arabia’s endeavors to reactivate its diplomatic engagement in the region amid Iran’s waning influence.

De facto Syrian ruler Ahmad al-Sharaa, who also heads the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, welcomed Prince Faisal and his high-level delegation in Damascus, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported. No details of the meeting have been made public so far.

The Saudi diplomat’s visit to Syria is the first since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad following a swift rebel offensive led by HTS in December.

Prince Faisal last headed to Syria and met with Assad in April 2023. That visit came as Arab countries sought to rekindle their ties with the former regime that had been severed over the Assad government's brutal crackdown on Arab Spring protests in 2011.