United Arab Emirates opens 'aid coordination' office in Damascus

The UAE opened an "aid coordination office" in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday, 25 July, to boost its humanitarian efforts in the country, Syrian state media reported.

The office's inauguration was attended by the UAE Assistant Foreign Minister for Development and International Organisations and representatives from the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Local Administration and Environment.

"The aim of opening the office in Syria is to coordinate humanitarian and development assistance to help its people," UAE Chargé d'Affaires Abdul Hakim al-Nuaimi said.

Al-Nuami added that the office in Syria will be the first in a series of similar humanitarian coordination offices opened in different countries.

The UAE has been one of the Syrian regime's closest allies in recent years. The UAE normalised relations with Damascus in 2018, five years before the country was welcomed back into the Arab League.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited the UAE in March 2022, his first visit to an Arab country since the regime's bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters in 2011 made him an international pariah.

Since then, the UAE has helped lead the regional detente towards the Syrian regime, advocating for bringing al-Assad back in from the cold.

After the devastating 6 February earthquake, the UAE sent search-and-rescue teams to Syria and launched the "Gallant Knight 2" aid campaign.

The UAE also sent relief supplies and humanitarian aid through 260 flights from February to July, according to Emirati-outlet The National.

The earthquake killed more than 50,000 and levelled entire cities. Parts of Syria, particularly opposition-held areas, have yet to recover from the natural disaster fully.