Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Iran to hold talks with Iranian top officials on further developing bilateral ties
It was on this Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Tehran on a surprise visit to Iran. Assad met with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as President Ebrahim Raisi
The supreme leader’s website confirmed the meeting and said the Syrian President then left for Damascus the same day.
During the visit with Iran’s supreme leader, Assad said to the two Iranian top officials that Iran’s stances on regional issues shows “Iran’s path is correct and fundamental;
“The Iranian nation’s stand on the foundations and principles of Imam Khomeini, which continued with your efforts, pave the way for great victories of the Iranian nation and the people of the region, especially the Palestinian people,” Assad also told Iran’s Khamenei.
Welcoming Assad, Ayatollah Khamenei said that Assad’s “victory in an international war” has increased the credibility of Syria and that Iran wishes to boost bilateral ties with this friendly country even more.
“Today’s Syria is not Syria before the war, even though there was no destruction back then, but now the respect and credibility of Syria is much more and all look to it as a power,” Iran’s supreme leader said.
Khamenei also used the opportunity to rebuke countries in the region that have normalized their relations with Israel.
In a separate meeting with Assad, the Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi said that “the future of the region is not determined by the negotiating table, but it is the resistance of the nations that shapes the new regional order,” Ibrahim Raisi also said in his meeting with Assad.
In response to the Iranian president’s remarks, Assad noted: “experience has proven that cooperation among regional countries on a range of issues has been highly effective.”
What makes this unannounced trip of Assad to Iran is that the Syrian President has not traveled to Tehran more than once since the Syrian civil war started back in 2011.
Iran, a great help in the fight against ISIS
Back in 2019, Assad held a meeting with the Iranian supreme leader, praising Khamenei for Iran’s constructive role in fighting terrorists in Syria. After ISIS gained power and declared its caliphate in 2014, the terrorist group could occupy more than one-third of the geographical area of Iraq and Syria with a population of about 10 million people.
But with the help of Iran, and especially the IRGC’s Quds Force, the two countries could fight back and take the terrorists out and reclaim the lost territories.
Iran has in fact played a major role in assisting the Syrian government in the fight against the ISIS terrorist group. In addition to diplomatic and economic support, Iran provided weapons and has sent military advisers to the Syrian government.
Some Western and Arab media outlets have tried to portray Iran’s presence on the battlefields of Syria as an act of foreign intervention.
However, Iran has said several times that its military involvement in Syria was at the request of the Syrian government. That’s why the Syrian President said this Sunday that “during the years of resistance and confrontation with the terrorists, Iran was the only country that stood by us from the beginning.”
Also in a speech in August 2017, Assad noted that “Iran has provided us with numerous advisers and military experts, as well as unlimited weapons and aid, and has supported us in international forums.”
