Regional
After Iran, Saudi Arabia to re-establish ties with Syria, sources say

Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, a step that would mark a leap forward in Damascus’s return to the Arab fold, Reuters reported.
Contacts between Riyadh and Damascus had gathered momentum following a landmark agreement to re-establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, a regional source aligned with Damascus said.
The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria’s civil war began in 2011, Reuters reported.
The two governments were “preparing to reopen embassies after Eid al-Fitr”, a Muslim holiday in the second half of April, a second regional source aligned with Damascus told Reuters.
The decision was the result of talks in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, according to one of the regional sources and a diplomat in the Gulf.
The Saudi government’s communication office, the kingdom’s foreign ministry and the Syrian government did not respond to requests for comment.
Saudi state television later confirmed that talks were ongoing with the Syrian foreign ministry to resume consular services, citing a Saudi foreign ministry official.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, read the report.
The apparently sudden breakthrough could indicate how the deal between Tehran and Riyadh may play into other crises in the region, where their rivalry has fuelled conflicts including the war in Syria.
The United States and several of its regional allies, including Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had backed some of the Syrian rebels. Assad was able to defeat the insurgency across most of Syria thanks largely to Shi’ite Iran and Russia.
The United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, has opposed moves by regional countries to normalise ties with Assad, citing his government’s brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution, Reuters reported.
When asked about the rapprochement, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. “stance on normalisation remains unchanged” and that it would not encourage other countries to normalise ties with Assad.
The United Arab Emirates, another strategic U.S. partner, has led the way in normalising contacts with Assad, recently receiving him in Abu Dhabi with his wife.
But Saudi Arabia has been moving far more cautiously.
The Gulf diplomat said the high-ranking Syrian intelligence official “stayed for days” in Riyadh and an agreement was struck to reopen embassies “very soon”.
One of the regional sources identified the official as Hussam Louqa, who heads Syria’s intelligence committee, and said talks included security on Syria’s border with Jordan and the smuggling of captagon, an amphetamine for which there is a thriving market in the Arab Gulf, from Syria.
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 in response to Assad’s brutal crackdown on protests, Reuters reported.
Saudi’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud earlier this month said engagement with Assad could lead to Syria’s return to the Arab League, but it was currently too early to discuss such a step.
The diplomat said the Syrian-Saudi talks could pave the way for a vote to lift Syria’s suspension during the next Arab summit, expected to be held in Saudi Arabia in April.
The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018, arguing Arab countries needed more of a presence in resolving the Syrian conflict, read the report.
While Assad has basked in renewed contacts with Arab states that once shunned him, U.S. sanctions remain a major complicating factor for countries seeking to expand commercial ties.
Regional
Israel and Syria agree ceasefire as Israel allows Syrian troops limited access to Sweida

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the U.S. envoy to Turkey said on Friday, after days of bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has killed over 300 people.
On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus and hit government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying that Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has members in Lebanon and Israel, Reuters reported.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said in a post on X.
Barrack said that Israel and Syria agreed to the ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and neighbors.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian consulate in Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Syria’s Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions.
Earlier on Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days.
The Syrian presidency said late on Friday that authorities would deploy a force in the south dedicated to ending the clashes, in coordination with political and security measures to restore stability and prevent the return of violence.
Damascus earlier this week dispatched government troops to quell the fighting, but they were accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze and were hit by Israeli strikes before withdrawing under a truce agreed on Wednesday.
Israel had repeatedly said it would not allow Syrian troops to deploy to the country’s south, but on Friday it said it would grant them a brief window to end renewed clashes there.
“In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the (Syrian) internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours,” the official, who declined to be named, told reporters.
Describing Syria’s new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has vowed to shield the area’s Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze minority.
It carried out more strikes on Sweida in the early hours of Friday.
The U.S. intervened to help secure the earlier truce between government forces and Druze fighters, and the White House said on Thursday that it appeared to be holding.
Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has worked to establish warmer ties with the U.S., accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority.
Reuters reporters saw a convoy of units from Syria’s interior ministry stopped on a road in Daraa province, which lies directly east of Sweida. A security source told Reuters that forces were awaiting a final green light to enter Sweida.
But thousands of Bedouin fighters were still streaming into Sweida on Friday, the Reuters reporters said, prompting fears among residents that violence would continue unabated.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented 321 deaths in fighting since Sunday, among them medical personnel, women and children. It said they included field executions by all sides.
Syria’s minister for emergencies said more than 500 wounded had been treated and hundreds of families had been evacuated out of the city.
‘NOTHING AT ALL’
Clashes continued in the north and west of Sweida province, according to residents and Ryan Marouf, the head of local news outlet Sweida24.
Residents said they had little food and water, and that electricity had been cut to the city for several days.
“For four days, there has been no electricity, no fuel, no food, no drink, nothing at all,” said Mudar, a 28-year-old resident of Sweida who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of reprisals.
“The clashes haven’t stopped,” he said, adding that “we can’t get news easily because there’s barely internet or phone coverage.”
The head of the U.N. human rights office urged Syria’s interim authorities to ensure accountability for what it said are credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting, including summary executions and kidnappings, the office said in a statement.
At least 13 people were unlawfully killed in one recorded incident on Tuesday when affiliates of the interim authorities opened fire at a family gathering, the OHCHR said. Six men were summarily executed near their homes the same day.
The UN refugee agency on Friday urged all sides to allow humanitarian access, which it said had been curtailed by the violence.
Israel’s deep distrust of Syria’s new Islamist-led leadership appears to be at odds with the United States, which said it did not support the recent Israeli strikes on Syria.
Regional
Pakistani TV channels withdraw reports on Trump visit

Two leading Pakistani television news channels withdrew reports on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump planned to visit the South Asian nation, with one of them issuing an apology.
The White House dismissed the reports. “A trip to Pakistan has not been scheduled at this time,” a White House official said, according to Reuters.
Geo and ARY news channels had said earlier on Thursday that Trump was expected to visit Pakistan in September. But both later withdrew their reports.
“Geo News apologises to its viewers for airing the news without a verification,” it said.
A senior management official at ARY told Reuters it backtracked after the foreign office said it had no knowledge of a visit.
George W. Bush was the last U.S. president to visit Pakistan in 2006.
U.S.-Pakistan relations saw a major boost when Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House last month in an unprecedented meeting.
Regional
Trump set to visit Pakistan in September, reports say

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Pakistan in September, two local television news channels reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
If confirmed, the visit would be the first by a U.S. president since nearly two decades ago, when President George W. Bush visited Pakistan in 2006.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said he was not aware of Trump’s expected visit, Reuters reported.
The two TV news channels said that Trump would also visit India after arriving in Islamabad in September.
U.S.-Pakistan relations saw a major boost when Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House last month in an unprecedented meeting.
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