UAE’s Gargash Says Syria Events Reflect Political Failure

Opposition fighters and people celebrate in Homs after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, Homs, Syria December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Opposition fighters and people celebrate in Homs after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, Homs, Syria December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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UAE’s Gargash Says Syria Events Reflect Political Failure

Opposition fighters and people celebrate in Homs after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, Homs, Syria December 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Opposition fighters and people celebrate in Homs after Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, Homs, Syria December 8, 2024. (Reuters)

Non-state actors should not be allowed the opportunity to exploit political vacuums, the United Arab Emirates diplomatic advisor to the president said on Sunday shortly after Syrian opposition factions declared the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Damascus.  

"Unfolding events in Syria are also a clear indication of political failure and the destructive nature of conflict and chaos," Anwar Gargash told the Manama Dialogue security forum in the Bahraini capital in the first official comments from the UAE on the matter.  

Syria's regime has fallen after opposition fighters entered Damascus following a stunning advance and a Syrian opposition war monitor reported that Assad had left the country.  

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday.

Asked if Assad was heading to the UAE, Gargash said: "When people ask where is Bashar al-Assad going to, I say, you know, when you really look at this, this is really at the end of the day a footnote in history. I’m reminded a little bit by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918 when he went into a long exile."

He added: "But I don’t think when you look at that period, this is really critical."



Saudi Arabia Condemns Far-Right Israeli Minister’s Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia Condemns Far-Right Israeli Minister’s Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned on Wednesday the storming of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry slammed the repeated “flagrant Israeli violations of the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

It also condemned Israeli forces for attacking an UNRWA clinic in northern Gaza, saying it was another in a series of attacks by Israel against UN and relief agencies.

“The Kingdom condemns the continued Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law, underscoring its categorical rejection of everything that may undermine the historic and legal status of Jerusalem and its holy sites,” said the ministry.

It called on the international community to “put a stop to the Israeli war machine that has no regard for any human values or law or international norms.”

It warned that the international community’s failure to deter these dangerous and ongoing violations will undermine opportunities to achieve peace and undermine the credibility of international law, as well as impact regional and global security and stability.