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."
