This photo released by Qatar news agency, shows Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, left, welcomed by Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, upon his arrival at the airport in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived in Damascus on Thursday (January 30, 2025) and was welcomed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Qatari court said.
The Emir is the first head of State to visit Syria since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.
He “arrived on an official visit to Damascus” where he was “welcomed by the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmed al-Sharaa”, a court statement said.
The trip, less than two months after Islamist-led rebels ousted Assad, comes a day after Sharaa was appointed interim president for an unspecified transitional period, and follows a visit by Qatar’s Prime Minister earlier this month.
Unlike other Arab countries, Qatar did not restore diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad and was one of the first to back the armed rebellion that erupted after his government crushed a peaceful uprising in 2011.
The Syrian embassy in Doha had told AFP that Sheikh Tamim would meet Sharaa “in a historic visit that will address cooperation and aid in several sectors”.
Qatar was the second country, after Turkey, to reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital following Assad’s overthrow, and has urged the lifting of sanctions.
In a statement Wednesday, the Qatari foreign ministry said Doha welcomed “the steps that aim to restructure” the Syrian state and “consolidate civil peace, security and stability”, after Sharaa was also tasked with forming a transitional legislature.
Foreign visitors
Sharaa’s Islamist group led the offensive that ousted Assad on December 8. The authorities on Wednesday also announced the dissolution of all armed groups involved in Assad’s overthrow, as well as the former government’s army.
During a visit earlier this month, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani pledged to support the rehabilitation of Syria’s infrastructure, devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war.
He said the agreement included providing Syria with 200 megawatts of power and gradually increasing production.
A diplomatic source has also said Qatar was weighing plans to assist Syria with public sector salaries.
Also this month, ministers from Syria’s transitional government including top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani met the Qatari premier on their first visit to the Gulf country since taking power.
On December 23, Qatar’s minister of state at the foreign ministry, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, led the first high-level Qatari delegation to Damascus after a 13-year diplomatic rift.
Qatar’s ruler is the most senior of a string of foreign officials to visit Damascus since December.
A delegation from Russia, a close ally of ousted leader Assad, visited this week, while foreign ministers or senior officials from countries including France, Germany and Turkey have also been to Damascus.
Syria’s Defence Ministry said Thursday (January 30, 2025) that a high-level Turkish military delegation had also visited the country.
Published – January 30, 2025 10:54 pm IST
