Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's choice of Saudi Arabia as the destination of his first foreign visit aimed to deliver blunt messages inside Syria and beyond. This isn’t only about Saudi Arabia being an economic and political heavyweight on the Arab, Islamic and international levels, but also about the new Saudi Arabia, which in a handful of years has become more open and witnessed rapid reforms and advances.

From the moment he succeeded in ousting the Assad regime, Sharaa showed that he was fully aware of new balances of power in the region and of the actual interests of the new Syria he is hoping to form.

It only took a handful of weeks to change Syria’s image. It is no longer a country that chases away its people and the keys to its fate do not lie with the supreme leader in Iran or the czar in Russia.

These glimmers of hope reminded me of Syrians I had met years ago and who had lost all hope that their country could be saved. In September 2015, I was in Berlin where I witnessed the waves of Syrian refugees arriving in the country. I met a man who had taken a chance by riding one of the “boats of death” to flee Syria. He told me: “Germany allowed me to feel my human dignity for the very first time.” One of his companions said: “I am excellent. I am eating three meals a day and I can sleep without fear of the Baath or ISIS.” It pained me to see Syrians living in refuge in Germany rejoicing at eating regular meals and being away from ISIS and the Seydnaya prison regime.

I recalled another day when I entered the office of a young man called Bashar al-Assad, who was in the early years of his time in office. He spoke to me of the difficult economic situation, of the aging regime and laziness of the Baath party. He also told me that the might of nations is not measured by their armies, but the strength of their economy.

Early on, Bashar’s regime was afraid of showing any openness and the fragile thread that could have connected the president to the people and the people with each other was severed. “Mr. President’s” isolation grew. He didn’t grasp the meaning of an American tank toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein. He didn’t pause at how he was forced to withdraw his forces from Lebanon in wake of the Lebanese people’s rage over Rafik al-Hariri's assassination. He was afraid of taking necessary painful decisions and instead turned over the keys to his country to the “Resistance Axis.”

General Qassem Soleimani persuaded the master of the Kremlin of the benefits of saving the Assad regime. Tehran ignored the will of the majority of the Syrian people and Moscow committed the same mistake. The radicalism of the Syrian opposition alarmed several countries and so, the ouster of the Assad regime was delayed. The regime itself was deluded in believing that it would remain in power forever.

During those days a young man called Ahmed al-Sharaa endured years in jail, on the battleground and in radicalism. In recent years, Sharaa lived in the Idlib “statelet” alongside the various factions and got to know the people. It never occurred to anyone that he would one day make it to Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to declare the end of over half a century of Assad rule.

Sharaa’s arrival on the scene surprised the region and world. His statements only fueled the desire to learn more about him and how he thinks. In just a few weeks, he shed the image of Abu Mohammed al-Golani and was once again known as Ahmed al-Sharaa. He said he wants to establish a Syria that belongs to all of its people without exception. He wants a unified Syrian state, not a Syria that is comprised of factions. He does not want to drag his country into endless wars and battles. He wants to involve all Syrians – inside the country and abroad – and to ensure the return of millions of refugees whom the former regime had forced to live in tents in neighboring states or to beg for residency in far-flung countries.

Sharaa’s appearance in Damascus was monumental and many feared that reprisals would ensue. But nothing happened. Sharaa played a decisive role in averting disaster.

The recent weeks have led many to believe that Sharaa spent his long time in Idlib preparing a detailed program for Syria that would ease internal and foreign concerns. He has surprised his visitors. They saw in him a man who was moving forward with pragmatism, fully aware that any misstep could land Syria in new isolation or internal strife that would discourage the world from helping it.

His visitors have said that he has the ability to listen and persuade. That he can be both firm and flexible. That he has the ability to accept the other and avoid insisting on imposing one unilateral vision in such an ethnically and religiously diverse country.

They realized that Sharaa knows the region and the world well. They noted that he did not fall in the trap of making a hasty response to Israel’s assault on his country, knowing that the Iranians had already left it by then. They noted that he dealt the “Axis of Resistance” a deadly blow, but refrained from celebrating the feat. He diminished Russia’s military presence in Syria without following it up with acts of reprisal.

Sharaa chose Saudi Arabia as the destination of his first trip abroad to underscore his realization of the constant importance the Kingdom places on Syria remaining an effective member of the Arab world, and on respecting the will of its people and supporting its sovereignty, territorial integrity and dream for stability and prosperity. Sharaa’s meeting with the torchbearer of Saudi Arabia’s rise, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was an extraordinary event that will certainly leave its mark on the new Syria and its position in the Arab family and in its international relations.

Sharaa knows Saudi Arabia well. He was born in Riyadh and spent his childhood there. He also knows the current Saudi Arabia, which is a source of stability and hub of investment partnerships and prosperity. He is aware of the Kingdom’s role in persuading western countries of easing sanctions on Syria ahead of lifting them completely. He is aware of the aid it can provide to his country in a world that is living on Donald Trump’s time.

He is also aware of the rapid regional developments and expectations. As he was in Saudi Arabia, Benjamin Netanyahu was heading to the White House, which has again chosen to live under the rule of the man of surprises and initiatives. Sharaa’s Saudi date is important for Damascus and Riyadh, as well as Syria and the Middle East’s stability.