image source, SANA
Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad Al-Shaibani, arrived in Riyadh, in the first official foreign visit of a high-level delegation to the new Syrian administration, after the overthrow of deposed President Bashar al-Assad last month.
Meanwhile, the security authorities began an operation in Homs searching for “war criminals and those involved in crimes who refused to surrender their weapons,” according to the official Syrian news agency, SANA.
Al-Shaibani wrote on the “X” platform, late on Wednesday evening, “I recently arrived in the sister Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and the head of General Intelligence, Anas Khattab.”
He said, “Through this first visit in the history of a free Syria, we aspire to open a new and bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations worthy of the ancient shared history between the two countries.”
According to the Syrian News Agency (SANA), the delegation arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, “at the invitation of the Saudi Foreign Minister.”
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Al-Khuraiji received “a high-level Syrian delegation that includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the new Syrian administration, Mr. Asaad Al-Shaibani, the Minister of Defense, Murhaf Abu Qasra, and the head of the Intelligence Service, Anas Khattab, upon their arrival at King Khalid International Airport.”
Last month, a Saudi delegation met with the leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Damascus.
Al-Sharaa, nicknamed “Abu Muhammad al-Julani,” leads Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which led the armed opposition factions to overthrow Assad’s rule on December 8.
Last week, Al-Sharaa predicted in an interview with the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel that the Kingdom would have a “very big role” in Syria, where it could benefit from “major investment opportunities” after the fall of the Assad regime.
On Wednesday, the Saudi authorities announced an air bridge to Syria carrying humanitarian aid, including medical, food and shelter supplies, to “alleviate the difficult conditions” for the Syrians.
The Kingdom sent two relief planes on Wednesday. On Thursday, it announced the dispatch of a third plane, according to the Saudi Press Agency, SPA.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed in a statement, following the overthrow of Assad, “The Kingdom stands by the brotherly Syrian people and their choices at this critical stage in Syria’s history, calling for concerted efforts to preserve the unity of Syria and the cohesion of its people, in a way that protects it… from sliding into chaos and division.”
Search for “war criminals”
image source, Getty Images
On the ground, the Syrian news agency SANA quoted an unnamed security official as saying, “The Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Military Operations Department, begins a massive combing operation in the neighborhoods of the city of Homs, searching for war criminals and those involved in crimes who refused to surrender their weapons and review the settlement centers.”
A security official said that the Ministry of the Interior called on residents of the Wadi al-Dhahab and Akrama neighborhoods “not to go out to the streets, stay in their homes, and cooperate fully with our forces, until the combing campaign ends or our forces are allowed to roam.”
“The combing operation primarily targets war criminals and fugitives from justice, in addition to hidden ammunition and weapons,” according to the official.
The new Syrian administration announced a general amnesty for workers in the previous regime.
It allowed former soldiers, police and intelligence officers, and anyone who was part of forces loyal to Assad, to register for a temporary civil ID card and hand in their weapons.
The security authorities in the new Syrian administration are pursuing what they say are “remnants of the previous regime.”
Late last month, 4 members of the military operations room of the Syrian administration were killed in clashes with “armed men from the remnants of the regime in the village of Balqsa in the Homs countryside,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Before that, the Military Operations Department, in cooperation with the Syrian Ministry of Interior, began an operation to control security, stability and civil peace and pursue “the remnants of Assad’s militias” in the forests and hills of the countryside of Tartous Governorate, according to what the Syrian News Agency reported.
This operation comes after the killing of 14 and the wounding of 10 others, members of the Interior Forces, after they were ambushed by “former regime forces” in the countryside of Tartous Governorate.
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