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 Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday travelled to Saudi Arabia for his first international visit since the toppling of the Bashar al-Assad regime-- a move signalling Damascus' likely shift away from Iran as its main regional ally.