Ahmad al-Shara' Travels to Saudi Arabia on His First Foreign Trip

Ahmad al-Shara', known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, traveled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first foreign trip. Al-Shara' is the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which was previously the al-Qaeda branch in Syria, and he arrived in Riyadh accompanied by the foreign minister of his government, As'ad al-Shaybani. The trip was made using a Saudi jet, and Saudi state television emphasized that the leader of the new Syrian government is on his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia. Upon his arrival at Riyadh airport, the new Syrian flag was raised alongside the Saudi flag. The new leader of Syria is set to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince. Saudi Arabia was one of the Arab countries that financially supported the opposition from the very beginning of the protests against Bashar al-Assad's regime in 2011. The Assad regime, supported by Russia, Iran, and Iranian proxy groups including Hezbollah, carried out a deadly crackdown on the opposition, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people. However, the swift attack by the opposition led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in early December of last year resulted in the overthrow of over five decades of Assad family rule in Syria. Iran has not yet reopened its embassy in Syria under al-Shara's control, and Russia, which is currently hosting Bashar al-Assad and his family, seeks to maintain its military and air bases in Syria. Over the past two months, al-Shara' has been trying to convince the United States and the European Union to lift their sanctions against Syria. Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, during his visit to Damascus last month, stated that Riyadh is actively working to lift Western sanctions against Syria. The United States and European countries have welcomed the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship while repeatedly emphasizing the need to form a democratic and inclusive government with the participation of ethnic and religious minorities as well as women. Al-Shara's promise to form an inclusive government and a new constitution in Syria reflects the consensus among Syrian armed groups; al-Shara has become the head of the transitional government. This is the first visit of a Russian government delegation to Syria after the fall of Assad. Turkey claims to have killed 13 Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria. The European Union has extended sanctions against Russia while reducing sanctions against Syria.