Syria’s president visits 1st Arab state in more than 1 decade
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits the United Arab Emirates in his first such visit to an Arab state since the beginning of foreign-backed violence in Syria.
Meeting with Assad on Friday, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahya "stressed that Syria is a fundamental pillar of Arab security,” the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
“The UAE is keen to strengthen cooperation with Syria,” the Emirati official added, describing the two nations as “brotherly peoples.”
Assad, for his part, urged that in order to protect the region, “we must continue with adherence to our principles, the sovereignty of our countries, and the interests of our peoples,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.
Asssad’s visit to the UAE took place only months after the Emirates’ Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan traveled to the Syrian capital Damascus. It also came amid the widely-reported prospect of Damascus’ return to the Arab League regional grouping.
Commenting on the significance of the trip and its potential of reshaping the regional Arab relations, observers remind how almost all of the region’s Arab states turned their backs on Syria in 2014, when Damascus came to face a huge wave of foreign-backed militancy and terrorism. Some of the Arab regimes, including the UAE itself, even began lending financial and logistical support to the anti-Syria elements.
They attribute such signs of rapprochement between Syria and its fellow Arab states of the region to the Syrian government’s managing to recapture vast swathes of its territory and turn the tide against the foreign-sponsored militants and terrorists.
Syria’s de facto new ruler names Asaad al-Shibani as foreign minister
Iranian embassy staffer assassinated by terrorists in Damascus
Israeli forces open fire on Syrians protesting occupation
5 Israeli forces killed as Palestinian fighters face up to regime’s war machine
VIDEO | Israeli settler killed during strike against Tel Aviv; fresh aggression targets Yemen’s capital
VIDEO | Yemen’s missile strikes on Tel Aviv
Iran to open 6 GW of new power capacity by next summer
VIDEO | South Korean rallies set the stage for battle over Yoon's impeachment
Hamas, other Palestinian groups say Gaza ceasefire deal ‘closer than ever’
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
Iran condemns ‘violent’ attack on Christmas market in Germany
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
