The Syrian regime's Bashar Assad made an official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday in a first trip to an Arab country since civil war erupted in 2011, UAE state media said.

Assad met with the UAE's de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, discussing "fraternal relations" between the two countries and "peace" in the Middle East, the WAM news agency reported.

The visit sends the clearest signal yet that the Arab world is willing to reengage with Syria’s once widely shunned dictator.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League and boycotted by its neighbors after the conflict broke out 11 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the war, which displaced half of Syria’s population. Large parts of Syria have been destroyed and reconstruction would cost tens of billions of dollars.

Arab and Western countries blamed Assad for the deadly crackdown on the 2011 protests that evolved into civil war, and supported the opposition in the early days of the conflict.

With the war having fallen into a stalemate and Assad recovering control over most of the country thanks to military assistance from allies Russia and Iran, Arab countries have inched closer toward restoring ties with the Syrian dictator in recent years.

A key motive for Sunni Muslim countries in the Persian Gulf is to blunt the involvement of their Shiite-led foe, Iran, which saw its influence expand rapidly in the chaos of Syria’s war.