Balanced News: Assad in UAE as second post-quake Gulf visit signals growing Arab outreach

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Emirati leaders in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, his second Gulf visit since last month’s earthquake in his country prompted renewed efforts to bring Damascus back into the Arab fold. The trip comes after a visit to Oman last month, his only official engagements in Arab countries since the start of Syria’s war in 2011. The UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, greeted Assad and his wife Asma in the capital, and the Emirati president said in a statement that their discussions explored ways of enhancing cooperation to accelerate stability and progress in Syria and the region. Abu Dhabi, which normalised relations with Assad’s internationally isolated government in 2018, has led aid efforts in the aftermath of the February 6 earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, killing tens of thousands. Analysts say the diplomatic momentum generated in the quake’s aftermath could bolster Damascus’s relations with Middle Eastern countries that have so far resisted normalisation after more than a decade of war