[1] Ian Black of The Guardian, on the other hand, states that Saudi foreign policy in general mostly focuses on business involving financial incentives and low-profile initiatives, which continued towards Syria until King Abdullah's high-profile condemnation of the Syrian government in 2011.

[4] Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia and Syria were in rival camps in the 1950s and 1960s, largely because of the policies of Egypt's leader Gamal Nasser and the Cold War.

But in 1956, Syrian President Shukri Al Quwatli signed a defense agreement with Gamal Nasser and Saudi King Saud in Egypt.

[8] By 1958 this deterioration in the relationship had led to King Saud offering a bribe of £1.9 million to Abdel Hamid al-Sarraj, the head of Syrian intelligence at the time and later vice president of the United Arab Republic, to encourage the assassination of Nasser.

[3] A left-wing faction of the Ba'ath Party, called the Neo-Ba'ath, led by Salah Jadid took over the government on 23 February 1966,[10] and declared war against monarchist nations, including Saudi Arabia.

[11][12] In turn, King Faisal visited Damascus in 1974[13] and persuaded the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to include Syria as a key participant in any Arab–Israeli negotiations.

[20] Four months after Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father as Syrian president, he visited Saudi Arabia in October 2000 and met King Fahd.

[21] The assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an ally of Saudi Arabia, in Beirut on 14 February 2005 adversely affected relations.

[30] Saudi King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to condemn the Assad government in August 2011 "due to its method to deal with the anti-government" demonstrations.

"[31][32] As a result of these events, Saudi Arabia withdrew its delegation from the Arab League's peacekeeping mission in Syria on 22 January 2012[33] and closed its embassy in Damascus in February expelling the Syrian ambassador.

[34][35] Relations between both countries deteriorated further following the start of the Syrian Civil War and Saudi Arabia's numerous calls for Assad to be ousted from power.

[41][42] On 26 August 2018, Lebanese MP Nawwaf Moussawi claimed that Assad rejected an offer by Prince Mohammad of Saudi Arabia to provide reconstruction aid in exchange for Syria cutting its ties with Iran and Hezbollah.

[43] On 29 August 2018, Jubeir stated at a joint press conference with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that Saudi Arabia would work with Russia in bringing about a political solution to the Syrian Civil War.

[44] His remarks were welcomed by Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem, who praised "the new language used to determine Saudi Arabia’s position".

[52] In June 2021, an Al Jazeera report quoted Syrian opposition figures as stating that senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, were "keen to reengage with Assad" and had started rapprochement talks.

[54] In September 2022, Daily Sabah reported Saudi Arabia had set conditions for the return of Syria to the Arab League, including distancing itself from Iran and Hezbollah.

[56] In March 2023, Saudi Arabia began talks to bring Syria back into the Arab League, and provided economic support after the earthquake on 6 February.

[64] On the sidelines of the summit President Bashar al-Assad met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and they discussed improving bilateral relations and developments in the Arab arena.

[70] On the other hand, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the fall of Assad, expressing its "satisfaction with the positive steps" in Syria.

[72] The foreign minister of the Syrian transitional government, Asaad Hassan al-Shaybani, made his first official visit abroad in that role to Saudi Arabia on 1 January 2025.

[74] Later that month, on January 24, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan visited Damascus, following discussions with the U.S. and Europe about lifting sanctions on Syria.

[75] During his visit, he conveyed Saudi Arabia's support for Syria's recovery and stability, signaling a shift toward normalizing relations.

[4] It followed other trade agreements, but all of them were cancelled by King Faisal on 3 May 1966 due to hostile attitude of the Neo-Ba'ath government in Syria towards Saudi Arabia.

[82] In 1997, Syrian exports to Saudi Arabia included mostly livestock, fruits, vegetables, textiles and furniture of which overall cost was over 602 million Riyals.