UAE FM visit signals Arab world willing to engage with Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria — The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates met with Syria’s once widely shunned president in Damascus on Tuesday, sending the clearest signal yet that the Arab world is willing to re-engage with strongman Bashar Assad.

The visit by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the first by an Emirati foreign minister since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011. It comes as some Arab countries are improving ties with Syria. The U.S., a close Emirati partner, promptly criticized the visit, saying it would not support any normalization with Assad’s government.

The rapprochement, however, could serve both sides.

Syria badly needs to boost relations with oil-rich countries as its economy is being strangled by crippling Western sanctions and it faces the task of post-war reconstruction. The UAE is also home to thousands of Syrians who work in the Gulf nation and send money to their relatives at home.

Most Gulf countries, at odds with regional rival Iran, seek warmer ties with Damascus, hoping to peel it away from Tehran. Iran is a traditional ally of Syria and sent advisers and resources to back Assad during the 10-year war.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League and boycotted by its neighbors after its civil war erupted in 2011. More than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict which displaced half of Syria’s population. Large parts of Syria have been destroyed and reconstruction would cost tens of billions of dollars.

Arab and Western countries generally blamed Assad for the deadly crackdown on the 2011 protests that evolved into civil war, and supported the opposition in the early days of the conflict.

Several years into the fighting, Iran’s backing for Assad, along with that of Russia, helped the Syrian leader push back the insurgents, who are now confined to a small area of northwestern Syria.