“Through this first visit in the history of free Syria, we aspire to open a new and bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations, befitting the long, shared history between the two countries,” Shaibani said on X.
He is accompanied by new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab, both top officials of the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad on December 8 after a blistering offensive.
On Wednesday, Syrian state media said the delegation had gone to Riyadh at the invitation of Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan.
Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic ties with Assad’s Syria last year and supported its return to the Arab League, 11 years after Riyadh severed ties with Damascus and backed Syrian rebels as the civil war in the country raged on.
Saudi Arabia is also the primary consumer of captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant that has spread across the Middle East with Syria as the main supplier.
Since the collapse of the Assad regime, HTS-led rebels have seized captagon warehouses and factories across the country allegedly connected to Assad’s brother, Maher al-Assad.
