Sharaa in Qatar for first time since Assad’s fall

Syria’s new president arrived in Qatar on Tuesday, state media said, for his first official visit to the Gulf state, a key backer of the new administration after longtime ruler Bashar Al Assad’s ouster.

The official Qatar News Agency reported Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani met Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa on his arrival at Doha’s Hamad International Airport.

Earlier, Syria’s foreign minister posted on X that he was accompanying Sharaa on his “first presidential visit to the country that has stood by Syrians from day one and has never abandoned them.”

Sharaa and Shaibani’s Qatar trip comes on the heels of a Sunday visit to the United Arab Emirates, where they met President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who expressed his country’s support for Syria’s reconstruction. Sharaa’s group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham led the rebel alliance that ousted Assad from power on Dec.8.

His new administration has received support from several countries including key backers Turkey and Qatar, as well as multiple Arab states.

The new authorities have engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity since taking power, and Sharaa has visited several Arab countries as well as Turkey.

Later on Tuesday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun touched down in Doha, accompanied by foreign minister Youssef Raggi, the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

Earlier, Aoun’s office had said talks between the Qatari and Lebanese delegations would continue into Wednesday afternoon and include a meeting with the Qatari emir.

A day earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Sharaa in Damascus in an effort to reboot ties between the two neighbours.

Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve relations since the overthrow of Assad, whose family dynasty exercised control over Lebanese affairs for decades and has been accused of assassinating numerous officials in Lebanon who expressed opposition to its rule.

Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg said since the fall of the Assad government, Qatar had emerged as “the most important interlocutor with the Sharaa government in the Arab world, at least after Turkey.”

Sheikh Tamim visited Damascus in January, becoming the first head of state to visit since Assad’s ouster.

Agencies