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US Will Not Back Efforts to Normalize ‘Dictator’ Assad after UAE FM Meets Syrian President

State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a media briefing at the State Department, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a media briefing at the State Department, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
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US Will Not Back Efforts to Normalize ‘Dictator’ Assad after UAE FM Meets Syrian President

State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a media briefing at the State Department, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a media briefing at the State Department, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP)

The United States is concerned by a meeting between the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, urging states in the region to carefully consider “atrocities” perpetrated by Assad.

The meeting was a sign of improving ties between Assad and the UAE.

“We are concerned by reports of this meeting and the signal it sends,” Price said at a regular press briefing.

“As we’ve said before, this administration will not express any support for efforts to normalize or to rehabilitate Bashar al-Assad who is a brutal dictator.”

Assad received UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Damascus on Tuesday.

A presidency statement said Sheikh Abdullah led a delegation of senior Emirati officials that discussed bilateral relations and cooperation in a meeting with Syrian counterparts.

The participants discussed exploring “new horizons for this cooperation, especially in vital sectors in order to strengthen investment partnerships in these sectors,” the statement said.

Sheikh Abdullah is the most senior Emirati dignitary to visit Syria in the decade since the eruption of the country’s war.

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International Aid Groups Say New Israeli Rules Stop Them Delivering Supplies to Gaza

Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in Gaza City on August 13, 2025. © Omar al-Qattaa, AFP
Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in Gaza City on August 13, 2025. © Omar al-Qattaa, AFP
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International Aid Groups Say New Israeli Rules Stop Them Delivering Supplies to Gaza

Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in Gaza City on August 13, 2025. © Omar al-Qattaa, AFP
Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in Gaza City on August 13, 2025. © Omar al-Qattaa, AFP

New Israeli legislation regulating foreign aid groups has been increasingly used to deny their requests to bring supplies into Gaza, according to a joint letter signed by more than 100 groups published Thursday.

"Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in lifesaving goods, citing that these organisations are 'not authorised to deliver aid'," the joint statement reads, AFP reported.

According to the letter, whose signatories include Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), at least 60 requests to bring aid into Gaza were rejected in July alone.

In March, Israel's government approved a new set of rules for foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with Palestinians.

The law updates the framework for how aid groups must register to maintain their status within Israel, along with provisions that outline how their applications can be denied or registration revoked.

Registration can be rejected if Israeli authorities deem that a group denies the "democratic character" of Israel or "promotes delegitimization campaigns" against the country.

"Unfortunately, many aid organizations serve as a cover for hostile and sometimes violent activity," Israel's Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli alleged to AFP.

"Organizations that have no connection to hostile or violent activity and no ties to the boycott movement will be granted permission to operate," added Chikli, whose ministry directed an effort to produce the new guideline.

Aid groups say, however, that the new rules are leaving Gazans without help.

"Our mandate is to save lives, but due to the registration restrictions civilians are being left without the food, medicine and protection they urgently need," said Jolien Veldwijk, director of the charity CARE in the Palestinian territories.

Eight more people, including three children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said Wednesday. The number of people who have died from hunger in the besieged enclave since the war began now stands at 235, including 106 children.

Veldwijk said that CARE has not been able to deliver any aid to Gaza since Israel imposed a full blockade on the Palestinian territory in March, despite partially easing it in May.