By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-01-23 21:20:54 | Updated at 2025-01-24 00:37:19
3 hours ago
CAIRO - Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will visit Damascus on Friday and meet with top officials in the new Syrian administration, a Syrian official said on Thursday.
Bin Farhan was last in Damascus in April 2023 to meet former President Bashar al-Assad, part of Saudi efforts to end the years-long regional isolation of Syria's then-president.
The following month, Saudi Arabia invited Assad to an Arab League summit in Riyadh, a body that had suspended Syria's membership over his deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011.
Arab countries have historically been concerned about Syria's production and trade of captagon, an amphetamine-like drug used in the Gulf by party-goers and labourers alike.
Syria is under a caretaker administration after rebels overthrew Assad in December. REUTERS
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