Saudi Arabia hosted an expanded ministerial meeting on Syria yesterday, following last month’s fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi.
The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, also attended the meeting.
Assad, the Syrian leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on December 8th, ending the decades-long rule of the Ba’ath Party.
The takeover followed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters capturing key cities in a lightning offensive that lasted less than two weeks.
A new administration led by Ahmed al-Sharaa has now assumed control of the country.
