DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat in Damascus on Tuesday, state media reported, ending more than a decade of diplomatic deep-freeze between the two countries. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s trip -- the first visit to Syria’s capital by a Saudi official since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011 -- marks a new era in ties between Iran-backed Damascus and Riyadh.
“Sound relations between Syria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should be the norm,” state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying during the meeting. “Such ties not only benefit the two countries, but also the Arab world and the region,” he said according to the report, commending an “outward-looking and realistic” Saudi approach. Assad was politically isolated in the region since the conflict began, but a flurry of diplomatic activity has been underway in past weeks as a decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran, a close ally of Damascus, to resume ties shifted regional relations.
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Assad and Prince Faisal discussed steps to “achieve a comprehensive political settlement that... contributes to Syria’s return to the Arab fold,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. The top diplomat told Assad it was important to “create the appropriate conditions for the return of refugees and the displaced” and for aid to reach all Syrian regions, according to the statement. The meeting comes less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the conflict began. Last week, diplomats from nine Arab countries met in the Saudi city of Jeddah to discuss ending Syria’s long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the 22-member Arab League after Damascus was suspended in 2011. The diplomats stressed the “importance of having an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis” in Syria, according to a statement by the Saudi foreign ministry.
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