Saudi Arabia and Syria are in talks to resume consular services between the two countries, Saudi state TV said on Thursday.
The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria's civil war began in 2011.
The United States and several of its regional allies, including Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had backed some of the Syrian rebels. Assad was able to defeat the insurgency across most of Syria thanks largely to Shi'ite Iran and Russia