Syria not out of the woods, no knowledge of whether Assad is in the UAE

8/12/2024 17:02

Syria is not out of the woods yet and extremism and terrorism remain a main concern, the United Arab Emirates diplomatic advisor to the president said on Sunday, adding that he did not know whether or not Bashar al-Assad was in the UAE.



"I don't know," Anwar Gargash told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Security dialogue in Bahrain when asked if Assad was in the UAE.



Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had ousted President Bashar al-Assad, eliminating a 50-year family dynasty in a lightning offensive that raised fears of a new wave of instability in a Middle East gripped by war.



Gargash blamed Assad's downfall on a failure of politics and said he had not used the 'lifeline' offered to him by various Arab countries before, including the UAE.



"Now there was a major failure, basically, in part in politics and policy, because Assad did not really use the sort of, you know, lifeline, that was thrown to him by various Arab countries, including the UAE, and did not really use that to open up, to move on to constitutional discussions that were taking place."