Pre Approval Visa for US Citizens?

Hi all, hoping someone here has recent firsthand experience.

I’m a US citizen planning to fly from Jeddah (JED) to Damascus (DAM). I’m trying to nail down whether I need a pre-approval visa arranged before travel, or whether I can sort everything out on arrival.

I’ve read posts suggesting that flying out of a Gulf country sometimes triggers a pre-approval visa requirement, but the information I’ve found has been pretty mixed and I can’t tell what actually applies right now. Some sources say it’s mandatory, others say it isn’t, so I’m not sure what to trust.

For what it’s worth, I understand that a visa on arrival is available at Damascus airport for US$200 — my main uncertainty is whether the pre-approval is a separate hard requirement on top of that, especially when departing from a Gulf country.

Has anyone here actually flown from a Gulf country (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc.) into Damascus as a US citizen recently? Did you need pre-approval, and if so, how did you obtain it? Any advice or firsthand accounts would be hugely appreciated.