Saudi foreign minister heads to Syria for first visit since war

Saudi Arabia's top diplomat is due to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday on the first visit by a Saudi official since the start of Syria's conflict, the Syrian regime's information ministry said.

"Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is arriving at Damascus international airport today on an official visit to Syria," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the Saudi minister was due to arrive in the afternoon.

The visit comes less than a week after Syrian regime Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the start of Syria's conflict in 2011.

In a meeting, Mekdad and his Saudi counterpart discussed "the necessary steps" to end the regime's isolation, according to a Saudi statement issued on Wednesday.

Over the past few months there has been increasing Arab engagement with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has been politically isolated in the region for nearly 12 years.

The Arab League suspended Syria's participation in the regional body in 2011 after Assad's forces brutally suppressed peaceful pro-democracy protests that year.

Over 500,000 Syrians have been killed and millions more displaced since then, mostly as a result of regime bombardment of civilian areas.

However last week, Arab countries gathered in the Saudi city of Jeddah to discuss ending the regime's long spell in the diplomatic wilderness, as regional relations shift following a decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran, a key ally of Assad, to resume ties.

Some Arab states - notably Qatar and Morocco - have expressed opposition to the Syrian regime's re-admission to the league, with Qatar's prime minister saying that the reasons for the regime's suspension "still stand".