Qatar’s emir to visit Damascus, 1st head of state to meet new Syrian leadership

Qatar’s emir will travel to Damascus on Thursday, becoming the first head of state to visit Syria since the fall of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to Al Jazeera and the Syrian embassy.

Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s expected trip, less than two months after opposition-led rebels ousted Assad, follows a visit by Qatar’s prime minister earlier this month.

“The Syrian embassy in Doha confirmed that the emir of Qatar will visit the Syrian capital, Damascus … to meet with the leader of the new administration in Syria,” the Syrian embassy said in a statement to Agence-France Presse (AFP).

Sheikh Tamim will meet interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa “in a historic visit that will address cooperation and aid in several sectors”, the embassy said.

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera cited unnamed sources as announcing the visit and said Syria’s presidency confirmed the meeting with Sharaa.

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.

During his visit two weeks ago, 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.