Saudi Foreign Minister Meets Syrian President
ISWNews Analysis Group – Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, who arrived in Syrian capital Damascus on April 18, has meet and held talks with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. This is the first visit by a Saudi official to Syria after 2011, when the Arab country was involved in a foreign-backed war.
In the meeting, the Saudi foreign minister said that the kingdom underlines the need for maintaining territorial integrity, Arab identity and security of Syria. Bin Farhan assured that Syria will achieve sustainable development, and that Saudi Arabia will make all-out effort to help maintain territorial integrity of Syria and the Syrian refugees will be able to return to their country.
The senior Saudi diplomat also emphasized that in the next phase, the relationships between Syria and other Arab states should return to normalcy, and that Damascus is expected to play its role in terms of Arab and regional affairs better than before.
According to the Syrian presidential office, President Assad and FM Bin Farhan discussed political, Arab, mutual and international issues. The Saudi foreign minister conveyed greetings from King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to President Assad. Bin Farhan also wished security, stability and progress for the Syrian nation.
For his part, Assad stated that brotherhood among Arab nations is much profound than the relations between Arab states. The healthy relationship between Saudi Arabia and Syria is a situation that should be on the ground, he noted, adding that this sort of relation is not only beneficial for the two nations but also it is fruitful for Arab and regional states. The pragmatic policy, which is being pursued by Saudi Arabi will be in favor of Arab and regional countries, the president argued.
The trip by Faisal bin Farhan occurred after Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik quoted sources on condition of anonymity that the Saudi foreign minister will visit Damascus to meet the Syrian authorities in the near future.
It is worth mentioning that this is the first trip of its kind by a top Saudi official to Syria from 2011 up to now. Saudi Arabia played a key role in financing and supplying the terrorist groups and the opponents of the central government in Damascus with weapons in the onset of the crisis in Syria. However, the Saudi kingdom has started improving its relationship with the Syrian government following the failure of their plot to topple Bashar al-Assad and the victories achieved by the resistance movement.
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