RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi&nbsp;Arabia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Syria's foreign ministers on Wednesday&nbsp;welcomed a&nbsp;thaw&nbsp;in bilateral&nbsp;ties, including steps to resume consular services and flights, and&nbsp;agreed to cooperate to&nbsp;fight&nbsp;drug&nbsp;trafficking&nbsp;and facilitate&nbsp;Syria's return to the Arab fold.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad landed in the&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Red Sea city of Jeddah on Wednesday in the first visit by a senior&nbsp;Syrian diplomat to the kingdom in more than a decade, a major sign that&nbsp;Syria's regional isolation is nearing an end.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gulf heavyweight&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Arabia&nbsp;cut&nbsp;ties&nbsp;with Damascus amid&nbsp;Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's brutal crackdown on peaceful protests in 2011, and backed rebel groups that fought to remove Assad from power.&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;was also suspended from the Arab League.&nbsp;
The resumption of&nbsp;Saudi-Syrian&nbsp;ties&nbsp;marks the most significant development in moves by Arab states to normalize links with Assad. It comes weeks after Mekdad met with the top diplomats of Egypt and Jordan, also for the first time in over a decade.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Assad, with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, regained control over much of&nbsp;Syria, and&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Arabia&nbsp;has said isolating him was not working.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In a joint statement at the end of Wednesday's visit, both sides&nbsp;agreed on the need for the&nbsp;Syrian state to assert its control over all its territories "and end the presence of armed militias".
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The two ministers also discussed the steps needed for a political settlement to the&nbsp;Syrian crisis that contributes to "Syria's return to its Arab environment" and said they would enhance cooperation on combating&nbsp;drug&nbsp;trafficking.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The U.S. and European nations, among others, have accused the Assad family of playing a leading role in the billion-dollar illicit trade of captagon, an amphetamine they say is produced in&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;and helps to fund the&nbsp;Syrian government.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Much of it is thought to be sold to buyers in Gulf Arab countries, including&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Arabia.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Assad's government denies involvement in&nbsp;drug-making and smuggling and says it&nbsp;fights to curb the lucrative trade.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mekdad's trip to Jeddah came two days before&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Arabia&nbsp;hosts another meeting of regional foreign ministers that will discuss&nbsp;Syria's return to the Arab League.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Saudi&nbsp;Arabia&nbsp;plans to invite Assad to the Arab League summit Riyadh is scheduled to host on May 19, a move that would formally end his regional isolation, sources have told Reuters, though it is unclear if there is Arab consensus on the matter.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;and Tunisia said on Wednesday they have also&nbsp;agreed to reopen their respective embassies.
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Maya Gebeily, Muhammad Al Gebaly, Yomna Ehab and Timour Azhari; editing by John Stonestreet and Sonali Paul)

you might like

Saudi Arabia, Syria welcome thaw in ties, agree to fight drug trafficking