Saudi Arabia minister and US envoy visit Syria for talks on future of Raqqa
Saudi Arabia’s Gulf affairs minister, Thamer Al Sabhan, has visited northern Syria with the US’s special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIL to discuss reconstruction of Raqqa following its liberation from the extremist group.
Mr Al Sabhan and Brett McGurk held talks with the Raqqa Civil Council, according to Amed Sido, an adviser to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance. Mr Sido said Saudi officials who visited Raqqa were there to listen to discussions rather than take part, adding that they met a reconstruction committee set up by the council.
“They promised that they would contribute in construction in Raqqa in the future,” he said.
The main priority for the city’s reconstruction now is clearing landmines and human remains, and working on water and electricity projects, Mr Sido said.
While no concrete plans were set in motion during the visit, he said: “We consider it a first visit, a first step, that could be the beginning of future relations”.
The Saudi newspaper Okaz also reported the minister’s visit to northern Syria and said Riyadh and Washington had discussed reconstruction.
Saudi Arabia is a member of the US-led international coalition against ISIL, set up in 2014, but no senior officials from Riyadh are known to have visited areas held by coalition allies in Syria.
The SDF’s four-month battle against ISIL in Raqqa, aided by coalition air strikes, left much of the city in ruins and forced much of its population to flee to camps nearby.
International charity Mercy Corps said yesterday that most of the city was uninhabitable.
The SDF and its allies set up the Raqqa Civil Council to run the city after the fighting was over.
Fighters from the alliance have been combing the city for booby traps and unexploded ordnance after declaring victory in ISIL’s self-declared capital on Tuesday.
Saudi officials were in Raqqa to listen, but Riyadh and Washington have had talks about the city’s reconstruction