Syria’s president has received a Republican member of Congress in the first visit to the country by American legislators since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad.

(Reuters) -Two U.S. Congress members landed in Damascus on Friday to meet Syrian officials, the first visit by American lawmakers to the war-ravaged country since Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power by an Islamist-led rebel offensive in December.

Two Republican members of the U.S. Congress were in the Syrian capital Friday on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first by U.S. legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.