UAE will help Syria to fight the Coronavirus

UAE’s bin Zayed expresses support to Syria in phone call with Pres. Assad

[ Editor’s Note: Among all the doom and gloom of the virus scourge we have an interesting political shift with the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledging to give Syria desperately needed help to fight the coronavirus.

With Syria’s medical system already on life support after nine years of war and sanctions, it would not have been able to do very much by itself. And the Prince is offering to do this when oil prices have tanked, the life blood of UAE.

So far the US had rebuffed all calls to eliminate unilateral sanctions during the pandemic, something that will stain American prestige for years to come. No one in the Trump regime will care about that, unless their no give a damn attitude sees them thrown out of office in November.

Will the US dare sanction the UAE for doing this? And will anyone else in the US Persian Gulf coalition step up to help Syria. We will have to wait and see, but Crown Prince has shown he views Arab solidarity as something worth investing in… Jim W. Dean ]

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– First published … March 28, 2020 –

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has held a phone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the Damascus army inches closer to win the war against foreign-backed terrorist groups.

In a post on his Twitter account on Friday, bin Zayed said that he had exchanged views with Assad on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 and vowed to support the Arab country during the pandemic.

For his part, Assad welcomed the UAE’s initiative and praised the Persian Gulf country’s humanitarian stance in light of the pandemic that is wreaking havoc in the region and the world.

Syria has recorded five cases of COVID-19 so far, but there are concerns about a rapid spread of the respiratory disease in the war-wracked country, where health system and infrastructure have been decimated by years of conflict.

Friday’s phone call was reported to be the first publicized contact between an Arab leader and Assad since Syria plunged into foreign-sponsored militancy in 2011.

The UAE has long been a supporter of anti-Damascus terrorists fighting to topple the Syrian government. Currently, however, alliances shift as the war in Syria winds down with the army capturing most of the territory that was once lost to Takfiri elements.

The Syrian military is now engaged in a months-old operation to liberate the last major terrorist-held area in the country.

Idlib Province, home to Turkish-backed elements, is the only large territory in the hands of terrorists after the Syrian military managed to undo militant gains and bring back almost all of Syrian soil under government control.

In late 2018, the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus for the first time since an Arab diplomatic boycott of Syria.

The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011, citing alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria denounced the move as “illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”

In December 2019, Emirati charge d’affaires Abdul-Hakim Naimi praised Assad for his “wise leadership,” describing relations between the two Arab countries as “solid and special”.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark UAE national day, Naimi described ties between Damascus and Abu Dhabi as “solid, distinct and strong,” saying, he hoped “security and stability prevails throughout the Syrian Arab Republic under the wise leadership of President Bashar al-Assad.”