Saudi Arabia pursues soft power with cash and aid in Syria

After losing his arms in an ordnance explosion, Syrian teenager Mohammed Hasram was fitted with prosthetic limbs funded by Saudi Arabia, which is leveraging major investments and aid to gain influence over Damascus.

- 

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Saudi Arabia has showered the new leadership with millions of dollars in assistance and investment pledges in the hope of steering it further into the kingdom’s sphere of influence, analysts told AFP.

Syria was a battleground for outside powers throughout the conflict, with Iran and Russia backing Mr Assad and Turkey and the US supporting various armed groups.

As the Assad allies withdraw and Syria seeks to rebuild, Saudi Arabia is leveraging its oil wealth to expand its influence.

Its main goals are “keeping Syria within the Saudi camp” and “keeping the new Syria aligned on issues related to Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran”, said Mr Umar Karim, a Saudi policy expert at the University of Birmingham.

Saudi Arabia has spent months courting Syria’s new leaders, aiming to draw closer a country long dominated by Iran and Russia.

In May, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman convinced visiting US President Donald Trump to promise to lift sanctions against Syria.

He also arranged a landmark meeting with Mr Trump for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former jihadist who spent five years in US custody in Iraq.