Saudi FM to arrive in Syria on Tuesday

WORLD, April 18 (YPA) -Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will arrive in Syria on Tuesday in the first visit by a top Saudi official since the conflict erupted in 2011, according to Syria’s information ministry.

Prince Faisal’s expected arrival in Damascus comes after his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad visited Jeddah on April 12.

“Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is arriving at Damascus international airport today on an official visit to Syria,” the information ministry said in a statement.

It said the Saudi foreign minister was due to arrive in the afternoon.

Last Week, The Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Faisal Mikdad, visited Saudi Arabia at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan, to hold talks on efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves Syria’s unity, security and stability, facilitates the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, and secures humanitarian access to the affected areas in Syria.

At the end of Mikdad’s recent visit, the two sides stressed in a joint statement the importance of strengthening security and combating terrorism, cooperation in combating drug trafficking, and the need to support Syrian state institutions to extend their control over their territories to end the presence of “armed militias.”

E.M