UAE: Diplomat offers praise for Assad, dissident arrested

Chargé d’affaires in Damascus Abdul-Hakim Naimi offered praise for Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad in a speech to mark UAE National Day on 2 December. Naimi was quoted as saying “security and stability prevails throughout the Syrian Arab Republic under the wise leadership” of Assad, in reports filed by Reuters and Russian broadcaster RT. Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Maqdad responded to Naimi’s remarks by saying: “We cannot forget that the United Arab Emirates stood by Syria in its war against terrorism.”