Al Assad receives the UAE Foreign Minister in Syria, in a new sign of the improvement in their relations

Jan. 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The President of Syria, Bashar al Assad, has received the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abdallah bin Zayed al Nahyan, in Damascus, in a new sign of the improvement in their bilateral relations and the slow reintegration of the president after more than eleven years of war.

Al Assad stressed during the meeting that the ties between the two countries are “historic” and added that “it is normal” for them to return to normality, within the framework of a meeting in which cooperation issues and also the situation were addressed. in the region, as reported by the Syrian state news agency, SANA.

Likewise, he has highlighted the “importance” of the UAE and its “positive role” in the region, after years of tensions due to Abu Dhabi’s support for armed groups in Syria in the context of the war unleashed in 2011 by the crushing repression of a wave of pro-democratic protests in line with the ‘Arab Spring’.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry has indicated through its account on the social network Twitter that Al Assad and Al Nahyan “have discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and have discussed various regional and international issues of common interest.”

According to information provided by the Emirati state news agency, WAM, the UAE foreign minister also showed the country’s “commitment” to supporting efforts to achieve a political solution to the war to restore security, stability and unity. of Syria and that satisfies the aspirations of the population.

Al Nahyan’s visit took place months after Al Assad traveled to Abu Dhabi in March 2022 to talk about security in the region and how to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, in what was his first official visit to the country. since 2011.

Previously, the Emirati Foreign Minister himself had become the first Emirati official to travel to Syria since the outbreak of the war in November 2021. The UAE reopened its Embassy in Damascus in 2018 after its closure in 2011.

The United States government showed its opposition on Tuesday to the restoration of relations with Damascus, days after a meeting between the defense ministers of Syria, Russia and Turkey to address the security situation.

The meeting, the first of its kind since the war in Syria broke out in 2011, took place in Moscow to address the Syrian crisis, in a sign of a possible rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus, whose bilateral relations have been strained by the conflict. and Turkey’s support for various rebel groups.

“We do not support countries improving their relations or expressing their support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar al Assad,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who insisted that Washington “has made it very clear” to all allies and partners that “now is not the time to normalize or improve relations.”