Syria’s president Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit the United Arab Emirates and Turkey next week, his foreign ministry announced on Sunday. It will be Sharaa’s first official trip to the UAE since taking office in January, and his second to Turkey.
The visits are part of a broader diplomatic campaign by the new Syrian leadership following the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad in December. Sharaa’s rise to power came after a swift military offensive led by his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist alliance previously active in Syria’s northwest.
Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia and Turkey in February. The forthcoming trip to the UAE marks his second official visit to a Gulf country, signalling an effort to secure both political and financial support from the region—particularly from states where economic assistance is less likely to be conditioned on cooperation with war crimes investigations.
The Syrian government has called for the full lifting of international sanctions that were imposed over the past 14 years. These sanctions, enforced by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, have severely limited Syria’s access to trade, finance and reconstruction aid.
“We urgently need sanctions relief to revive our economy and rebuild national institutions,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters earlier in the week.
The announcement comes just days after a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution was adopted in Geneva, calling on Syria’s new authorities to cooperate with ongoing investigations into war crimes committed since 2011. These include enforced disappearances, torture and the use of chemical weapons, and do not exclude crimes committed by jihadist groups.
Syria’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Haydar Ali Ahmad, described the resolution as a “strong incentive” to pursue reforms. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said that it reflects the government’s commitment to accountability.
