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Saudi Arabian relief supplies at Aleppo Airport
Photo: - / AFP
The devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey may result in a slight rapprochement between the governments in Riyadh and Damascus, which have been at odds for years.
As the Syrian state news agency Sana reported, a plane loaded with 35 tons of food, medicine and tents from Saudi Arabia landed in the government area.
Photos showed relief supplies being unloaded at Aleppo airport.
Further deliveries are to follow in the coming days.
The aid delivery to Aleppo is the eighth in the entire earthquake area, reported Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA.
The influential Gulf state had previously sent several planes with relief supplies to Turkey.
"It is the first time in more than 12 years that a Saudi plane has landed in the regime's areas," the activists of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
According to them, Saudi Arabia was the first country to send state aid to rebel areas in Syria.
The fact that Riyadh is now also providing humanitarian support to the areas controlled by the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad is a novelty in the diplomatic exchange that has been minimal for years.
Apparently more relief flights are planned
"The instruction from the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to us is to help the affected Syrian people," a suspected member of the Saudi aid delegation said on Syrian state television, according to Reuters news agency.
Accordingly, further aid flights should take place.
Relations between the two authoritarian countries had deteriorated massively in the wake of the Arab Spring.
At the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Saudi Arabia had given strong support to the Syrian opposition.
Riyadh has since scaled back its aid.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar and Egypt, recently blocked an initiative to reinstate Syria in the Arab League.
Riyadh sees Iran - one of Assad's most important allies - as an archenemy.
After the quake, Turkey and Greece had recently come closer again.
Among other things, Athens had sent aid workers to the disaster area.
Such cooperation between neighboring countries already existed after the Gölcük earthquake in 1999.
Cooperation after a catastrophe despite previous serious differences was subsequently referred to as earthquake diplomacy.
Assad is isolated internationally
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is largely isolated internationally because of his brutal actions against his own people in the war.
He is accused of crimes against humanity, including the use of chemical weapons.
Assad, whose leadership now controls two-thirds of the country again, hopes to regain international standing in the wake of the disaster.
Aid to the areas controlled by the Syrian leadership also came from allied states such as Russia, China and Iran, as well as several other Arab countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef also sent planes with medical and other relief supplies on Tuesday.
fek/dpa/Reuters