The official visit, the first of its kind since the 2011 outbreak, was announced by diplomatic sources cited by local daily Al-Watan.

The daily reported that Wang Yi will hold talks with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mekdad at the Foreign Ministry to sign several economic agreements.

China repeatedly expressed its support for Syria in the crackdown on terrorism and its strongly rejection of internal affair interference, as well as ratified its support for sovereignty and independence of Syria, a stance confirmed in May by Chinese President Xi Jinping who congratulated his Syrian counterpart on his re-election and said that Beijing is vowed to promote relations with Syria and increase cooperation in all fields.

pgh/Pll/mgt / fm