A Saudi delegation of over 100 investors arrived in Damascus on Wednesday ahead of a conference aimed at securing billions of dollars in deals to help rebuild war-battered Syria.
The oil-rich Gulf kingdom has been one of the major backers of the new Syrian government that seized power after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, after 14 years of civil war.
Saudi state broadcaster Al-Ekhbariya said the country’s investment minister, Khalid Al-Falih, was leading the delegation, which included 120 investors, aiming to ink agreements worth 15 billion riyals ($4 billion).
On Tuesday, Saudi’s investment ministry said the forum aimed to “explore cooperation opportunities and sign agreements that enhance sustainable development and serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples”.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump formally dismantled US sanctions targeting Syria, hoping to reintegrate the country into the global economy as Israel mulls ties with its new leadership.
Trump lifted most sanctions against Syria in May, responding to appeals from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The US president met Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa during his visit to Saudi Arabia in May, months after the former jihadist took his first trip abroad since Assad’s ouster to Riyadh in February.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged to settle Syria’s debt to the World Bank totalling about $15 million.
Despite vows to unify the country, the new government in Damascus has struggled to maintain order, with deadly clashes involving minority groups raising questions about Syria’s stability.
Bloody violence in Syria’s Sweida province earlier this month started with exchanges between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes but soon escalated, with Israel later intervening with air strikes targeting government installations.
More than 1,300 people, mostly Druze, were estimated to have been killed during the fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
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© Agence France-Presse
