Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has departed for the United Kingdom for talks with British officials, the Damascus foreign ministry announced on Wednesday. The visit continues a rapid diplomatic offensive by Syria's new leadership following the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Shaibani will hold “talks with a number of British officials during the visit,” though specific details of the agenda were not provided.

This trip comes just two days after Shaibani accompanied Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on what was described as a “historic” visit to Washington, D.C. That meeting with US President Donald Trump marked the first by a Syrian head of state in decades.

The back-to-back high-level engagements signal Damascus's determined effort to reintegrate with the international community after the collapse of the Assad regime in early December.

UK-Syria Relations Thaw

London officially re-established diplomatic ties with Damascus in July. That rapprochement was cemented by a visit from then-British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to the Syrian capital—the first by a UK foreign minister in 14 years.

Following that visit, the UK government stated its commitment to “supporting Damascus” and emphasized the goal of “an inclusive and representative political transition in Syria.”

Landmark US-Syria Meeting

The Syrian Foreign Ministry characterized President Sharaa's meeting with President Trump as being “conducted in a friendly and constructive atmosphere.”

According to the ministry, President Trump expressed “his admiration for the new Syrian leadership and the Syrian people” and affirmed his administration’s “commitment to provide the full support needed… to succeed in the path of reconstruction and development.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump pledged, “We'll do everything we can to make Syria successful because it's part of the Middle East,” adding that the region now enjoys “peace… for the first time that anyone can remember.”

The US president also revealed that Washington is “working with Israel on getting along with Syria,” highlighting efforts to ease long-standing tensions between Damascus and Tel Aviv.

In a significant subsequent development, the American embassy in Damascus announced on Tuesday that Syria had officially joined the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), becoming the 90th member of the alliance. The embassy described the move as “a pivotal moment in the history of Syria and the global war against terrorism.”