Interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives in Riyadh on trip that appears to signal shift away from Iran alliance

Syria’s interim president has made his first trip abroad, travelling to Saudi Arabia in a move that is likely to be an attempt to signal Damascus’s shift away from Iran as its main regional ally.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, landed in Riyadh alongside his government’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani. The two men travelled on a Saudi jet, with a Saudi flag visible on the table behind them.