FILE PHOTO: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi takes part in a news conference, during the second Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, at the Dead Sea, Jordan December 20, 2022. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni
AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi will head to Syria and Turkey on Wednesday in a "show of solidarity" after the quake that killed thousands of people in both countries, his ministry said.
Jordan, which neighbours Syria, has sent large shipments of aid to both countries with the kingdom sending a medical hospital to Turkey and organising several large aid convoys through the country's northern border crossing with Syria.
However, the visit by Safadi to Damascus would be the first such trip by a top Jordanian official to Syria since the more than decade long conflict that devastated Syria and saw both sides take opposing camps.
Staunch U.S. ally Jordan had supported mainstream rebel groups that had sought to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad but later backed Russian-led military campaign that regained southern Syria from rebel control.
"Safadi will discuss the humanitarian and aid needs that the two countries need," a statement from the foreign ministry said, adding that another aid plane will fly to both countries on Wednesday.
Jordan has criticised Damascus for failing to curb a multi-billion dollar drug smuggling to the Gulf through its borders that Amman blames on Iranian-backed militias who hold sway in southern Syria.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Hogue and Toby Chopra)
