Syria FM says will visit Saudi Arabia in first official trip abroad | Syria’s War News

The visit comes as Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Syria’s newly appointed foreign minister, meets with GCC officials in Damascus.

Syria’s new foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, says he has accepted an invitation from his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah to visit, in what would be his first official trip abroad.

“It is an honor to represent my country in my first official visit [to Saudi Arabia],” al-Shibani said in a post on X on Monday.

“We look forward to building strategic relations with our brothers in the kingdom in all fields,” he said, describing the visit as a goodwill gesture and a step towards re-establishing Syria’s role in the region after the fall of a long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad this month.

Syria’s interim government appointed Al-Shaibani as foreign minister on December 21, making him the country’s first top diplomat since the ouster of al-Assad.

During a press conference with his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah al-Yahya in the capital Damascus later on Monday, al-Shaibani said his visit to Saudi Arabia was scheduled for “the first week of the new year.”

He also called on Kuwait, “with all love and joy” to reopen its embassy in Damascus and restore relations with Syria after the fall of al-Assad.

The visit by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister al-Yahya was the latest by regional leaders and diplomats to signal an openness to building relations after the ouster of al-Assad by rebel forces on December 8.

GCC ‘ready to invest in Syria’

Al-Yahya and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi also met with Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Shara, during their visit. Al-Yahya said they discussed regional development and cooperation.

Al-Yahya called on the international community to review the sanctions imposed on Syria. He also said that the leadership of Kuwait appealed to urgently send aid to Syria.

“This visit expresses our desire to open a new page of regional cooperation … we also appreciate the readiness of the new Syrian administration for these efforts,” he said.

Sunni Muslim Arab states boycotted the former Syrian administration after al-Assad accepted help from Shiite and non-Arab Iran and Russia to quell the rebellion against him. In 2013, the Arab League readmitted Syria after more than a decade of suspension.

Earlier on Monday, al-Sharaa met with Ukraine’s foreign minister in Damascus and announced a new strategic partnership.

Visit from Chief diplomat of Ukraine it came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his country had sent its first batch of food aid, 500 tons of wheat flour, to Syria.

Al Jazeera reporter Resul Serdar, reporting from Damascus, said “delegations after delegations” were arriving in Damascus to express support for the new administration.

Al-Yahya and Al-Budaiwi “made it clear that they are here not only on behalf of Kuwait, but on behalf of all the Gulf countries – saying they are ready to invest in Syria and welcome Syria back to the Arab world,” Serdar said.

The visit is particularly important because “Syria is in desperate need of investment in its energy sector as it has been largely destroyed in 13 years of civil war,” Serdar said.