DUBAI
\nWorld leaders descended on the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to offer condolences to new leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the death of his half-brother President Khalifa bin Zayed in a show of support to a key regional player.
\nSheikh Mohammed, now ruler of wealthy Abu Dhabi emirate, steered the Western-allied Gulf state, an OPEC oil producer and regional business hub, for years before being named the UAE\u2019s third president by a federal supreme council on Saturday.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds lucrative business and military ties with the UAE, told Sheikh Mohammed in Abu Dhabi that the UAE could \u201ccount on France\u2019s friendship\u201d and discussed the Ukraine conflict, the Elysee said.
\nIsraeli President Isaac Herzog said before heading to the Emirati capital that the establishment of ties between the UAE and Israel two years ago was an asset for the whole region built by \u201cbold and groundbreaking leaders\u201d, including Khalifa.
\nThe UAE, along with Bahrain, upended decades of Arab consensus by forging relations with Israel, creating a new anti-Iran axis in the region and drawing Palestinian ire. The Palestinian president was also due in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as was Britain\u2019s prime minister.
\nUS President Joe Biden, whose administration has had fraught ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, will be represented by Vice President Kamala Harris, due to visit on Monday.
\nSeveral Arab leaders paid respects on Saturday. Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince, whose father King Salman entered hospital a week ago, sent a delegation.
\nSheikh Mohammed, known as MbZ, has been a driving force in Middle East politics, championing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the West as he rose to power and combating political Islam, seen as a threat to Gulf dynastic rule, around the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI World leaders descended on the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to offer condolences to new leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the death of his half-brother President Khalifa bin Zayed in a show of support to a key regional player. Sheikh Mohammed, now ruler of wealthy Abu Dhabi emirate, steered the Western-allied Gulf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7281,7260,3734],"class_list":{"0":"post-260794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-respects","9":"tag-uae-president","10":"tag-world-leaders"},"yoast_head":"\n