Syrian delegation arrives in Saudi Arabia in first official visit

A high-ranking Syrian delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday on the first foreign visit by the country's new rulers since they ousted president Bashar al-Assad last month, state media said.

"An official Syrian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani, Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and General Intelligence Service chief Anas Khattab arrives in the Saudi capital Riyadh," the official SANA news agency reported, quoting a foreign ministry source.

The statement described it as "the first official foreign visit, at the invitation of the Saudi foreign minister".

"Through this first visit in the history of Free Syria, we aspire to open a new, bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations that befits the long shared history between the two countries," Syria's Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani said.

Last month, a Saudi delegation met Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, a source close to the government told AFP at the time.

Shaar heads the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that led the rebel offensive that ousted Assad on December 8.

Last week, in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, Sharaa said Saudi Arabia "will certainly have a large role in Syria's future", pointing to "a big investment opportunity for all neighbouring countries".

Syria's economy and infrastructure has been devastated by more than 13 years of civil war that began with a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Assad's government in 2012 and backed Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow him early in the country's civil war.

But last year, Riyadh restored ties with Assad's government and was instrumental in Syria's return to the Arab League, ending its regional isolation.

Saudi Arabia has become a major market for captagon, an addictive drug for which there is huge demand in the oil-rich Gulf.

The amphetamine-like narcotic was Syria's most valuable export under Assad, turning the country into one of the world's leading narco states.