Oman's top diplomat met Sunday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Muscat said, in the Gulf official's second visit to the war-wracked country since conflict broke out in 2011. Assad met with Oman's state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah to discuss bilateral relations and regional security, the sultanate's foreign ministry said in a statement. It added that Abdullah also met with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem. Abdullah visited Damascus in 2015, Syria's official SANA news agency reported at the time, to discuss ways to "resolve the crisis in Syria".