The United Arab Emirates foreign minister met President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the Syrian presidency said, a sign of improving ties between Assad and a U.S.-allied Arab state that once supported rebels trying to overthrow him.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed is the most senior Emirati dignitary to visit Syria in the decade since the eruption of a civil war in which several Arab states backed mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents against Assad.
The participants discussed exploring "new horizons for this cooperation, especially in vital sectors in order to strengthen investment partnerships in these sectors”, the statement said. Jordan and Egypt, both U.S. allies, have also taken steps toward normalising relations since Assad, with Russian and Iranian help, defeated rebels across much of Syria, apart from some northern and eastern areas that remain outside his grasp.efforts to normalise ties with Assad or rehabilitate him until progress is made towards a political solution to the conflict.
The UAE may have asked Damascus not to trumpet the visit due to sensitivities in its ties to the United States, said Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist at the University of Oklahoma. "No one wants to get their head too far over the parapet," he said.