Chinese FM Wang Yi meets Syrian President Assad

Syrian President Bashar Assad met on Saturday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Damascus.

Wang is the most senior Chinese official to visit Damascus in years. Assad thanked China for its support.

Syria is a strong ally of China in the Middle East.

Syrian News Agency SANA reported that Wang and Assad discussed bilateral relations and further cooperation.

Wang's visit came on the same day that Assad was sworn in for a fourth seven-year term.

In power since 2000, his new term starts with a country still devastated by war and sliding deeper into a worsening economic crisis.

Nearly half of Syria's pre-war population is either displaced or living in neighboring countries or Europe as refugees.

The war has left nearly half a million dead, tens of thousands missing and devastated the country's infrastructure.