UAE FM travels to Syria, meets with President Assad

According to local Syrian media, the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan has traveled to Damascus.

Syrian "Al-Watan Online" website has reported that the plane carrying UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed landed at Damascus Airport as the first trip of a high-ranking UAE official to Damascus since 2011.

The Syrian website stressed that bin Zayed was carrying an important message from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian sources added that the purpose of the trip is a sign of breaking the ice between in severed Syria's relations with Arab states.

The visit comes a little more than a month after Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates' de facto ruler, held a phone conversation with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to discuss developments in Syria and the Middle East.

The latest reports from Syria suggest that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received bin Zayed for a meeting to discuss bilateral relations.

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