Syria’s Bashar al-Assad visits UAE

91
1
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad visits UAE

President Bashar al-Assad from Syria traveled to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for an official visit accompanied by his wife, a sign of the growing momentum with which he is returning to the international stage after a decade-long isolation.

According to a report released by the official Emirates News Agency, al-Assad was welcomed on Sunday as a pariah in many parts of the world for overseeing the bombing and torturing of his people when a 2011 rebellion escalated into a civil war.

The delegation that included the Emirati ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and the two discussed the brotherly relations between their countries, the agency said. Sheikh Mohammed also offered condolences for the victims of the deadly earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey last month, and expressed confidence that Syria would overcome the crisis and move into a new era. The trip took place days after Mr. al-Assad traveled to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and almost exactly a year since the Syrian leader's last visit to the United Arab Emirates, which was his first reception by an Arab country since the Syrian civil war began.