Syria’s newly appointed interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first foreign trip since his rebel coalition ousted the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad, saying his country seeks a real partnership with the Gulf kingdom.

Syria’s interim president is making his first trip abroad, visiting Saudi Arabia in a move likely trying to signal Damascus’s shift away from Iran as its main regional ally. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda,