Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, his office said, marking his first visit to an Arab country since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011.
In a statement posted on its social media pages, the office said al-Assad met with Emirati Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Al-Assad and the Emir of Dubai discussed expanding bilateral relations between their countries, it said.
Photo: AFP / HO /SYRIAN PRESIDENCY FACEBOOK PAGE
The visit sends the clearest signal yet that Arab states are willing to re-engage with Syria’s once widely shunned president.
It comes against the backdrop of the raging war in Ukraine, where Assad’s main ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is pressing on with a military offensive, now in its fourth week, raining lethal fire on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv.
Syria has supported Russia’s invasion, blaming the West for having provoked it.
Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League and boycotted by its neighbors after a civil war broke out in the country 11 years ago.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the war, which displaced half of Syria’s population. Large parts of Syria have been destroyed and reconstruction would cost tens of billions of US dollars.
Arab and Western countries generally blamed Assad for the deadly crackdown on the 2011 protests that evolved into civil war, and supported the opposition in the early days of the conflict.
Asked about Assad’s visit to the UAE, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said Washington was “profoundly disappointed and troubled by this apparent attempt to legitimize Bashar al-Assad, who remains responsible and accountable for the death and suffering of countless Syrians, the displacement of more than half of the pre-war Syrian population, and the arbitrary detention and disappearance of over 150,000 Syrian men, women and children.”
Assad has rarely traveled outside the country during Syria’s civil war, only visiting Russia and Iran. Tehran has given the Syrian government billions of US dollars in aid and sent Iran-backed fighters to battle alongside his forces — assistance that, along with Russian air power, has helped turn the tide in Assad’s favor.
With the war having fallen into a stalemate and Assad recovering control over most of the country thanks to military assistance from his two allies, Arab countries have inched closer toward restoring ties with the Syrian leader in the past few years.
The UAE reopened its embassy in Syria in late 2018 in the most significant Arab overture toward the al-Assad administration, although relations remained cold.
Last year, the Emirati minister of foreign affairs flew to Damascus for a meeting with Assad, the first visit by the country’s top diplomat since 2011.
The US, a close partner of the UAE, at the time criticized the visit, saying it would not support any normalization with Assad’s government.
A key motive for the overtures by Sunni Muslim countries in the Persian Gulf is to blunt the involvement of their Shiite-led foe, Iran, which saw its influence expand rapidly in the chaos of Syria’s war.
However, the rapprochement could serve both sides.
Syria badly needs to boost relations with oil-rich countries as its economy is being strangled by crippling Western sanctions and as it faces the task of post-war reconstruction. The UAE is also home to thousands of Syrians who work in the Gulf Arab nation and send money to their relatives at home.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s de facto ruler, said after Assad’s visit that Syria remains a “fundamental pillar of Arab security” and that he hopes the UAE can facilitate its development.
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