Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani waits to welcome the senior Ukrainian delegation led by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, after the… Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS | Published February 19, 2025
DAMASCUS, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa met China’s ambassador to Damascus in the first public engagement between the two countries since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December, Syrian state media said on Friday.
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China, which backed Assad, saw its embassy in Damascus looted after his fall, and Syria’s new Islamist rulers have installed some foreign fighters including Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in China that Western rights groups say has been persecuted by Beijing, into the Syrian armed forces.
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In 2015, Chinese authorities said many Uyghurs who had fled to Turkey via Southeast Asia planned to bring jihad back to China, saying some were involved in “terrorism activities”.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping had vowed to support Assad against external interference. He offered the veteran Syrian leader a rare break from years of international isolation since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011 when he accorded him and his wife a warm welcome during a visit to China in 2023.
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Assad was toppled a year later in a swift offensive by a coalition of rebels led by the Sharaa-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate, that ended 54 years of Assad family rule.
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
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