Syria's Assad visits UAE as Arab isolation eases

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — his second trip to the Gulf in a month — in an attempt to restore ties with his country's Arab neighbors.

Last month's earthquakes which killed tens of thousands of people in Syria and Turkey, spurred renewed efforts to bring Damascus back into the Arab fold after ostracism that began with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Assad made a similar visit to Oman last month.

What happened in Abu Dhabi?

UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Assad and his wife Asma in the capital, Abu Dhabi, the official news agency WAM said, before high-level meetings at the presidential palace.