AlUla Airport Starts Receiving International Flights

AlUla International Airport begins receiving international flights. (SPA)
AlUla International Airport begins receiving international flights. (SPA)
TT

AlUla Airport Starts Receiving International Flights

AlUla International Airport begins receiving international flights. (SPA)
AlUla International Airport begins receiving international flights. (SPA)

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) announced on Thursday the approval of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) for AlUla International Airport to start receiving international flights, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

AlUla Airport has witnessed extensive development projects that included the comprehensive expansion carried out by RCU, transforming it into the fifth largest airport in Saudi Arabia, with a total area estimated at 2.4 million square meters.

RCU has worked to triple the airport’s capacity, and it can now receive 15 commercial flights at the same time. The capacity has increased from 100,000 passengers to 400,000 passengers per year.

The development of AlUla Airport is a key element of RCU's strategy to elevate AlUla to become a global destination for heritage, culture, history and natural tourism, and to enhance its strategic role, to become an important logistical center in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The strategy also aims to attract two million visitors every year to AlUla and contribute to raising the Kingdom's GDP by SR120 million by 2035.



Syria’s Leader Meets with Bahraini Diplomatic Delegation

The leader of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani in Damascus, Syria, January 8, 2025. (Bahrain News Agency/Handout via Reuters)
The leader of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani in Damascus, Syria, January 8, 2025. (Bahrain News Agency/Handout via Reuters)
TT

Syria’s Leader Meets with Bahraini Diplomatic Delegation

The leader of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani in Damascus, Syria, January 8, 2025. (Bahrain News Agency/Handout via Reuters)
The leader of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa meets Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al-Zayani in Damascus, Syria, January 8, 2025. (Bahrain News Agency/Handout via Reuters)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa received a delegation from Bahrain on Wednesday and met with the Bahraini foreign minister, state media reported.

The visit was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic overtures by Arab countries to Syria’s new leaders after they overthrew former President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive.

Like other Gulf countries, Bahrain had cut off diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad’s rule during the Syrian civil war, but it reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018 and gradually restored ties with the Assad government.

Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit, and days after Assad’s ouster it had sent a message to al-Sharaa offering its cooperation with the new authorities and saying, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.”