Syria’s interim president made his first trip abroad on Sunday, travelling to Saudi Arabia in a move likely trying to signal Damascus’ shift away from Iran as its main regional ally.
Advertisement
Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, travelled to Riyadh alongside his government’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani. A photo published by the state-run SANA news agency showed the two men on a jet, likely provided by the kingdom, with a Saudi flag visible on the table behind them.
Saudi state television trumpeted the fact that the first trip by al-Sharaa, first known internationally by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, would make Riyadh his first destination.
Saudi Arabia had been among the Arab nations that poured money into insurgent groups that tried to topple former President Bashar al-Assad after Syria’s 2011 Arab spring protests turned into a bloody crackdown. However, its groups found themselves beaten back as Assad, supported by Iran and Russia, who fought the war into a stalemate in Syria.
That changed with the December lightning offensive led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaeda but has since denounced its former ties.
Advertisement
Al-Sharaa and HTS have carefully managed their public image in the time since, with the interim president favouring an olive-coloured military look similar to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, appointing women to roles and trying to maintain ties to Syria’s Christian and Shiite Alawite populations.