Syrian President Bashar Assad was in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, his office said, marking his first visit to an Arab country since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
In a statement posted on its social media pages, the office says that Assad met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai. The two discussed expanding bilateral relations between their countries, it said.
The visit sends the clearest signal yet that the Arab world is 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.
When asked about Assad's visit to the UAE, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was "profoundly disappointed and troubled by this apparent attempt to legitimize Bashar 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."
