The two Mideast powerhouses have been trying to block the rise of Islamist groups in the region for two decades. The rebel takeover in Damascus will test that approach.

Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani says he has accepted an invitation from his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah to visit, in what would be his first official foreign trip.

On Wednesday, a Syrian delegation that included Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, and intelligence chief Anas Khattab arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, for the new Syrian government’s first diplomatic trip abroad.

Ministers from Syria’s transitional government held talks in Saudi Arabia on Thursday on their first foreign visit since they toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last month. “Through this first visit in the history of free Syria,