DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s president on Saturday received a Republican member of Congress in the first visit to the country by American legislators since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad in December.

State news agency SANA did not give details about the meeting between President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida in the capital Damascus. It said the meeting was attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, and comes in the wake of calls by Syria’s new rulers for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other Western nations early in the conflict.

Since arriving in Syria on an unofficial visit Friday, Mills and Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana toured parts of Damascus, including the old quarter as well as one of the oldest synagogues in the world that was badly damaged and looted during the country’s 14-year conflict that killed half a million people.

On Saturday, Stutzman visited the country’s notorious Saydnaya Prison.

— The Associated Press