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Crown Prince Sheikh , the United Arab Emirates' de facto ruler, discussed developments in Syria and the Middle East with SyrianÌýdictatorÌý on Wednesday, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Washington's main regional allies have stepped up economic and diplomatic ties with , shunned after a bloody crackdown on peaceful protests against his regimeÌýthat spiralled into a multi-sided war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

The UAE re-opened its mission to Damascus in late 2018 in a bid to counter the influence of non-Arab actors such as Iran, which along with backs Assad, and Turkey, which backs rebel forces. WAM gave no further details of the talks.

Jordan, a staunch USÌýally, fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria in late September, to boost the countries' struggling economies and reinforce the push by Arab states to reintegrate Syria.

Jordan's King Abdullah also for the first time in a decade this month while the Egyptian and Syrian foreign ministers met last month on the sidelines of the UNÌýGeneral Assembly in New York, in what Egyptian media said was the first meeting at that level for about a decade.

(Reuters)