DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Syrian President Bashar
Al-Assad held talks in the UAE on Friday, his first official visit to an Arab
country since civil war erupted in 2011, UAE state media said.
اضافة اعلان
Assad met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,
discussing "fraternal relations" between the two countries and
efforts to "contribute to the consolidation of security, stability, and peace
in the Arab region and the Middle East", the WAM news agency reported.
The meeting is the latest sign of warming ties between Syria
and the UAE, which broke ties with Damascus in February 2012.
Sheikh Mohammed said he hoped the visit would "pave the
way for goodness, peace and stability to prevail in Syria and the entire
region", WAM said.
The pair also discussed ways of "preserving the
territorial integrity of Syria and the withdrawal of foreign forces from the
country," it added, as well as means of providing "political and
humanitarian support for Syria".
Photographs released by the Syrian presidency also showed
Assad meeting with Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum during
the one-day visit.
Syria's economy has been battered by a decade of conflict
and grueling sanctions.
The Arab League suspended Syria after conflict broke out 11
years ago.
In November last year, the UAE's top diplomat met Assad in
Damascus for the first time since Syria's war began, a move that triggered US
denunciations of efforts to normalize ties with a "dictator".
About half a million people have died and millions have been
displaced since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, after nationwide protests
against the government were met with a brutal crackdown.
It escalated into a devastating and complex war that drew in
numerous actors including Islamist extremist groups and regional and
international powers.
Earlier this month, the UN commission for inquiry on Syria
called for "a review of the implementation and impacts of sanctions
currently imposed on Syria" in light of deteriorating living conditions.
But on Tuesday, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the US
said in a joint statement that they do "not support efforts to normalize
relations with the Assad regime".
The statement was made to commemorate 11 years since the
start of the anti-government uprising in Syria, which was marked by thousands
of protesters in Syria's rebel enclave of Idlib.
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