Jordan's Abdullah receives first call from Syria's Assad since start of conflict

FILE PHOTO: Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks after being welcomed by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

AMMAN (Reuters) -Jordan's King Abdullah received a phone call from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the royal palace said on Sunday in what officials said was the first such communication since the start of the conflict in Syria a decade ago.

The conversation was the latest step in a recent normalisation of ties between leaders who had long been on opposing sides in Syria's civil war, with Jordan supporting Syrian Western-backed mainstream rebels seeking to drive Assad from power.