Sharaa, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Sunday in his first foreign trip as Syrian leader, in a sign of the major shifts under way in regional alliances.

The visit by Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to the Gulf Arab state could signal his government's strategy of moving away from Iranian influence. Ousted leader Bashar Assad was backed by Tehran.

Syria's interim president made his first trip abroad Sunday, traveling to Saudi Arabia in a move likely trying to signal Damascus' shift away from Iran as its main regional ally.