DUBAI: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to the United Arab Emirates left the United States “profoundly disappointed”, Washington said on Saturday, urging its allies to avoid normalising ties with a regime accused of “horrific atrocities”.

Assad’s surprise trip on Friday during which he met Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was his first official visit to an Arab country since the war had erupted in Syria over a decade ago.

It was the latest sign of warming relations between Syria and the energy-rich UAE — a key US ally that also normalised ties with Israel in 2020.

“We are profoundly disappointed and troubled by this apparent attempt to legitimise Bashar al-Assad,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement sent to AFP on Saturday.

Assad, he said, “remains responsible and accountable for the death and suffering of countless Syrians, the displacement of more than half of the pre-war Syrian population, and the arbitrary detention and disappearance of over 150,000 Syrian men, women and children”.

As US Secretary of State Antony “Blinken has reiterated, we do not support efforts to rehabilitate Assad, and we do not support others normalising relations,” Price asserted.

“We have been clear about this with our partners... (and) we urge states considering engagement with the Assad regime to weigh carefully the horrific atrocities visited by the regime.”

Friday’s visit by the Syrian president to the UAE came as Russia — a close Damascus ally that also has solid ties with the Emirates — pressed its war on Ukraine.

‘Fraternal’ ties

Syria’s war erupted in March 2011 after the brutal repression of anti-government protests, and a year later the UAE, like most Arab countries, broke ties with Damascus. But the UAE reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital in December 2018, suggesting an effort to bring Assad’s regime back into the Arab fold.

A UN commission of inquiry this month called for “a review of the implementation and impacts of sanctions currently imposed on Syria” in light of deteriorating living conditions. But State Department spokesman Price said on Saturday that the US would maintain sanctions on Syria “until there is irreversible progress toward a political solution”.

On Friday, President Assad and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE’s de facto ruler, discussed the “fraternal relations” between the two countries, the official news agency WAM reported.

Talks also centred on efforts to “contribute to the consolidation of security, stability and peace in the Arab region and the Middle East”, said WAM.

Sheikh Mohammed said he hoped the visit would “pave the way for goodness, peace and stability to prevail in Syria and the entire region”, it added.

The pair also discussed ways of “preserving the territorial integrity of Syria and the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country,” it said, as well as means of providing “political and humanitarian support for Syria”.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said the meeting had helped to “strengthen cooperation” between the two sides.

Russia, Syria and the Gulf

Syria’s complex war drew in numerous players, including foreign players such as Iran and Russia, and battered its economy.

In September 2015, Russia began launching air strikes in support of Syria’s regime, a turning point in the conflict that eventually helped Assad regain control of most of the country.

Recently, President Assad praised the invasion Russia launched against Ukraine on February 24 as a “correction of history”.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022