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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) 鈥� A pair of Republican Congress members 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.

Also Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in his first visit since Assad鈥檚 fall and the beginning of the Syrian uprising-turned-civil-war in 2011.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida visited the Damascus suburb of Jobar, the site of a historic synagogue that was heavily damaged and looted in the civil war, and the Christian neighborhood of Bab Touma, where they met with Christian religious leader. They also were set to meet al-Sharaa and other government officials.

The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government, led by al-Sharaa, an Islamist former insurgent who led a lightning offensive that toppled Assad. Washington has not yet lifted harsh sanctions that were imposed during Assad鈥檚 rule.

Mills, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press that it was 鈥渧ery important to come here to be able to see it for myself, to be with various governmental bodies, to look at the needs of the Syrian people, to look at the needs for the nation for stability.鈥�

Mills said he expected discussions with al-Sharaa to include the issue of sanctions, as well as the government鈥檚 priorities and the need for the transitional administration to move toward a 鈥渄emocratically elected society.鈥�

鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 going to be the president鈥檚 decision鈥� to lift sanctions or not, he said, although 鈥淐ongress can advise.鈥�

The Congress members came at the invitation of the Syrian American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity, a nonprofit based in Indiana that describes its mission as fostering 鈥渁 sustainable political, economic, and social partnership between the people of Syria and the United States.鈥�

Syrian Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Kabawat, the only woman and only Christian serving in the transitional government, joined the congressional team on a visit to Bab Touma, which she said was 鈥渧ery important鈥� to Syrians.

Palestinian leader visits as Israeli troops remain in Syria

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa said Abbas’s visit was 鈥渢o discuss matters of mutual interest and regional developments,鈥� without giving more detail.

Syria has a population of about 450,000 Palestinian refugees. The Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus was once widely considered the capital of the Palestinian diaspora before it was largely destroyed in the war.

Palestinian refugees in Syria have never been given citizenship, ostensibly to preserve their right to go back to the homes they fled or were forced from during the 1948 creation of the state of Israel. But in contrast to neighboring Lebanon, where Palestinians are banned from owning property or working in many professions, in Syria, Palestinians historically had all the rights of citizens except the right to vote and run for office.

Syria does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. While the new Syrian authorities have said publicly that they are not interested in entering a conflict with Israel, the Israeli government regards the Islamist former insurgents now in in power in Damascus with suspicion.

Israeli forces seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone inside Syria after the rebels toppled Assad and have launched an extensive series of airstrikes on military facilities in Syria. Israeli officials have said that they will not allow the new Syrian military south of Damascus.

Abbas鈥� arrival in Damascus was delayed after Israeli authorities denied permission for a helicopter to land in Ramallah that was supposed to arrive from Jordan to take the Palestinian president, said a Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. Israeli officials did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.

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Sewell reported from Beirut.