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Syria’s new leaders visit Saudi Arabia

​Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman meets Syria's newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 2, 2025.

Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman meets Syria's newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 2, 2025.

Saudi Press Agency/Handout via
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksJanuary 03, 2025
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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On Wednesday, a Syrian delegation that included Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, and intelligence chief Anas Khattab arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, for the new Syrian government’s first diplomatic trip abroad. Syrian and Saudi leaders have much to offer one another.

The Saudis welcome a government in Syria that is no longer an Iranian ally and a transit route that allows Tehran to rearm Hezbollah, its proxy in Lebanon. The Saudis would also like to see an end to the smuggling into the kingdom of dangerous narcotics from Syria. For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, these are developments that can help stabilize the region after more than a year of expanding war and decades of a delicate balance between Iran and the Gulf Arab states.

The new leaders in Damascus hope the Saudis and other deep-pocketed Gulf Arab states will see the new Syria as a “big investment opportunity,” in the words of the country’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, until recently known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Rebuilding civil war-torn Syria and welcoming back large numbers of Syrian refugees from abroad will be an enormously expensive project, and the Gulf Arabs are by far the likeliest potential donors to see self-interest in major investments.

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