DOHA: The presidents of Syria and Lebanon arrived in Qatar on separate visits Tuesday, the first official trips by both leaders to the wealthy Gulf state since taking office. Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met with Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, the Qatari leader’s office said in a statement. Qatar has been a key backer of the new administration in Damascus after longtime ruler Bashar Al-Assad’s ouster in December. The talks between the Qatari and Syrian leaders “covered the most prominent regional and international developments, and an exchange of views on ways to enhance security and stability,” Sheikh Tamim’s office said.

Earlier, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani posted on X that he was accompanying Al-Sharaa on his “first presidential visit to the country that has stood by Syrians from day one and has never abandoned them”. Al-Sharaa and Al-Shaibani’s Qatar trip comes on the heels of a Sunday visit to the United Arab Emirates, where they met Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sharaa new administration has received support from several countries, including key backers Turkey and Qatar, as well as multiple Arab states. Qatar was one of the first Arab countries to back the armed rebellion that erupted after Al-Assad’s government crushed a peaceful uprising in 2011. Unlike other Arab nations, Doha did not restore diplomatic ties with Syria under Al-Assad. The new authorities have engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity since taking power, and Al-Sharaa has visited several Arab countries as well as Turkey.

‘Important interlocutor’

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 Amir. A day earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met with Al-Sharaa in Damascus in an effort to reboot ties between the two neighbors.

Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve relations since the overthrow of Al-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”.

He said the gas-rich Gulf emirate was a “diplomatic force multiplier to the Sharaa government in Syria” and would be able to connect the new Syrian authorities with Lebanon, “which is, for both countries, extremely important”. Sheikh Tamim visited Damascus in January, becoming the first head of state to visit since Al-Assad’s ouster. Doha has pledged to support the rehabilitation of Syria’s infrastructure, and has signed multiple deals to provide the war-ravaged country with much-needed power.

Syrian authorities are seeking assistance including from wealthy Gulf states for reconstruction after nearly 14 years of war. Qatar is also one of the providers of financial and in-kind support to the Lebanese army and pledged support for reconstruction in February after Zionist strikes destroyed swaths of Beirut and southern Lebanon. — AFP