DAMASCUS (dpa-AFX) – Saudi Arabia has flown humanitarian aid supplies to its regional neighbor for the first time since the upheaval in Syria. The Saudi state agency SPA described the flight as the beginning of an air bridge to Syria, which would also be followed by a land bridge. According to the SPA report, the first flight from the Saudi capital Riyadh brought, among other things, food, emergency shelter and medicine to Syria. During the period of the Syrian civil war in 2011 until the end of 2024, Saudi Arabia provided aid worth more than 850 million US dollars.
During the civil war, Saudi Arabia, like Qatar and Turkey, initially supported the insurgents who wanted to overthrow the government of ruler Bashar al-Assad. Riyadh had financed and armed various opposition groups. After the violent suppression of protests against Assad in Syria, Saudi Arabia put diplomatic relations with Damascus on hold. After more than a decade of diplomatic isolation, Syria was readmitted to the Arab League in 2023 – relations with Riyadh also normalized.
In Syria, more than 16 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid. According to the UN, this is the highest number of people in need of help since the civil war began in 2011./jot/DP/he