The United States expresses its “deep disappointment” over the visit of the Syrian president to the Emirates

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The United States said on Saturday that it was “deeply disappointed and disturbed” by the Syrian president's visit to the United Arab Emirates on the eve of the United Arab Emirates, the first in an Arab country since the beginning in 2011 of the conflict ravaging his country.

Excluded from the Arab world for a decade, President Bashar al-Assad seems to have thus taken another step towards the normalization of relations between Syria and certain countries in the region, including the Emirates, allies of the United States in the Gulf.

“We are deeply disappointed and disturbed by this manifest attempt to legitimize Bashar al-Assad,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement sent to AFP. According to him, Bashar al-Assad “remains responsible and guilty of the death and suffering of countless Syrians, the displacement of more than half of the pre-war population, as well as the arbitrary detention and disappearance of more than 150,000 men, women and children.”

Al Asad's visit comes as Russia, a key ally of Syria and which also maintains strong ties with the Emirates, continues its military intervention in Ukraine since the invasion of February 24.

“We urge countries considering dialogue with the Al Assad regime to give serious consideration to the atrocities committed by the regime,” Ned Price added.

On Friday, the Syrian president was greeted by the de facto leader of the Emirates, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed, to discuss “fraternal relations” between the two countries, according to the official Emirati agency WAM.

The Arab League expelled Syria at the end of 2011, when all Arab countries opposed the regime's repression of peaceful and pro-democracy protests in the country.

At the end of 2018, Abu Dhabi reopened its embassy in Damascus, although the question of Syria's return to the Arab League continues to divide its members.

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