Jordan's foreign minister makes first visit to Syria in a decade

Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, arrived in Damascus on Wednesday in the first such high-level visit to Syria since Damascus violently cracked down on protests in 2011.

Safadi will also head to Turkey to show “solidarity” after a double earthquake devastated the south of Turkey and northern Syria.

The visit would discuss humanitarian needs and how Jordan, a neighbour that hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, can help in ongoing relief operations, the source said speaking to Reuters.

The latest thaw between Damascus and its neighbours comes as the first Saudi plane in a decade landed in Syria's government-held areas to deliver aid on Tuesday.

"This is the first plane from Saudi Arabia to land on Syrian territory in more than 10 years," an official speaking to AFP said on condition of anonymity. Saudi Arabia broke off relations with President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2012 and backed rebels in earlier stages of the war.