Syria's new leader speaks by phone with UAE Sheikh
Stay tuned with 24 News HD Android App
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and the UAE's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a telephone conversation on Friday to discuss bilateral relations, Syrian state media said.
Abu Dhabi had been an outlier in supporting Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad in his attempts to normalise foreign relations following the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011.
A top Emirati official had also expressed concern a week after the fall of Assad over the political leanings of Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The UAE does not tolerate political Islam and remains sceptical about HTS and the large influence Turkey holds over the group.
"A telephone call was held between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during which the two parties discussed ways to reinforce bilateral relations," Syria's state news agency Sana said.
"The two parties also insisted on the importance of continuing coordination and the intensification of efforts to support the Syrian people, to protect its territorial integrity, and on their commitment to work together to ensure the stability and development of the region," according to Sana.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani visited Abu Dhabi earlier this month in the first high-level trip to the Gulf country since Assad's fall.
Syria's new leaders are seeking financial support from Gulf nations to help rebuild the country, which has been devastated by more than 13 years of conflict.