Global Outlook

  Bashar Assad, the president of Syria, made his first trip to the affluent Gulf nation since the deadly earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria last month on Sunday. According to a statement from Assad's office, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan welcomed Assad, who travelled with his wife Asma and a delegation of Syrian officials. The two "had good conversations aimed at improving relations between our two countries," Sheikh Mohammed said in a post on Twitter. More than ten years after the 22-member Arab League suspended Damascus' membership due to Assad's ruthless crackdown on protesters and later on civilians during the war, the visit signifies a continuation of the continuing thawing of relations between Syria and other Arab nations. The earthquake's response to global sympathy seems to have accelerated the long-brewing regional reconciliation. The UAE has already repaired ties with Damascus before the incident. With the start of the ...