Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Abu Dhabi on 7 July 2025 for an official visit, where he was received by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and later held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Discussions centred on expanding economic cooperation and post-war reconstruction, with Emirati advisers pointing to the roughly 400,000-strong Syrian community in the Emirates as a catalyst for investment and development projects. The trip is al-Sharaa’s second to the UAE since he assumed office in January and forms part of his broader effort to secure regional backing and foreign capital following the collapse of the Assad regime earlier this year. Soon after the delegation’s arrival, Syrian, Israeli and regional outlets claimed the president had met Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi in Abu Dhabi. Damascus dismissed the story as fabricated, and Israel’s Yisrael Hayom said Hanegbi was in Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time. A source at Syria’s Information Ministry told the state news agency SANA that "no sessions or meetings" were held with Israeli officials. The clarification comes days after the ministry also rejected media reports that Syrian and Turkish intelligence agencies had thwarted an Islamic State-linked assassination attempt against al-Sharaa during a June visit to Daraa, calling those allegations “completely baseless.”