Cairo: A Syrian woman and her children were reunited in the Saudi holy city of Mecca after 11 years of separation caused by the war in the homeland, according to a social media video.
The footage shows a boy clad in the white robe worn by Muslims performing Umrah or minor pilgrimage in Mecca dashing towards the woman at an apparently lodging house in the holy city, home to the Grand Mosque, which is Islam’s holiest place.
Other members of the family soon join the touching reunion. The woman and her children appear tearfully moved by the reunion that social media commentators said happened after an 11-year hiatus resulting from the strife in Syria.
Muslims from inside and outside Syria Arabia usually flock to Mecca during Ramadan to perform Umrah and offer prayers at the Grand Mosque.
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There are around 449,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, according to an official census announced by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics last May.
Syria has been devastated by a civil war that erupted in March 2011.
Last May, the Arab League agreed to reinstate Syria more than 11 years after suspending its membership at the pan-Arab organisation.
Nearly two weeks later, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad attended in Saudi Arabia an annual Arab summit, his first since 2010.
In the wake of a killer earthquake that struck Syria in February 2023, a flurry of Arab officials visited the war-torn country to express support, paving the way for Syria’s readmission into the Arab fold.
