Foreign ministers and top diplomats from Western and Arab countries were preparing to meet Syria’s new foreign minister in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday at the first such regional meeting on Syria since President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month.
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani arrived in Riyadh on Saturday evening, according to Saudi state news agency SPA. Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq were all in Riyadh ahead of Sunday’s meeting plus envoys from the United Kingdom and the United States. Other top Arab and Western officials are expected to attend.
The meeting, which is expected to focus on Syria post-Assad, comes as the country's new administration urges a lift of sanctions by the West to help in the country's recovery.