Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in Damascus on Thursday in the first visit by a national leader to Syria [Getty File Image]
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in Damascus on Thursday in the first visit by a national leader to Syria since the overthrow of the Assad regime last December.
His visit comes one day after Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which spearheaded the ouster of Assad, was proclaimed interim president of Syria.
The administrative office of the Qatari emir, known as the Amiri Diwan, said in a statement: “Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived today in Damascus on an official visit.
“The President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, was at the forefront of those receiving him at Damascus International Airport.”
Ahead of the visit, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said that Qatar was “working with the new [Syrian] administration to overcome challenges in the field, including Israeli occupation, and efforts to lift international sanctions on Syria”.
Following the overthrow of Assad, Israeli forces invaded a demilitarised buffer zone separating the Golan Heights – occupied by Israel since 1967 – from the rest of Syria. They have forcibly displaced people from towns and villages in the area and established new military bases on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.
International sanctions against Syria, which were imposed in response to the Assad regime’s atrocities against the Syrian people, remain in place, although the US and the EU have suspended some of them.
Al-Ansari also said that there would be “significant development” in Syrian-Qatari relations in the coming period.
After the Syrian uprising against Assad’s rule broke out in 2011, Qatar supported the Syrian opposition and broke off relations with the Assad regime when it brutally cracked down on anti-government protests.
It refused to restore ties with the regime, even when it seemed like Assad had gained the upper hand in the conflict and was welcomed back into the Arab League in 2023.
On Wednesday evening, Al-Sharaa was proclaimed president of Syria for an unspecified interim period at a ceremony proclaiming the victory of the Syrian revolution.
He will appoint an interim legislature which will draft a Syrian constitution. All the armed factions which took part in the Syrian uprising against Assad’s rule will be dissolved and integrated into the state armed forces.
