Alwaght- Syrian President Bashar Assad traveled to Iran on Sunday and met with the Islamic Republic's leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and the country's President Ebrahim Raeisi, Iranian media reported.
This is Bashar Assad's second visit to the Iranian capital, Tehran after the eruption of foreign-backed militancy in Syria in 2011.
Iran's leader said despite the devastation done to Syria by years-long war, the country is now looked upon as a major power.
“Today, Syria is not the same Syria that it was before the war, although the devastation [of war] was not there at that time, but now Syria enjoys a higher degree of respect and credit and all countries look upon it as a power,” the Leader said, referring to major achievements of Syria in both political and military arenas.
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that Syrian president and its nation are now honored by all regional nations, adding, “Some leaders of countries that are neighbors to us and you, have relations with the leaders of the Zionist regime and drink coffee together. However, people of the same countries pour into the streets on [International] Quds Day and chant anti-Zionism slogans and this is the current reality of the region.”
He said various factors were influential in Syria’s resistance and victory in an international war, adding, “One of the most important of those factors was your own high morale and, God willing, you would be able to reconstruct the ravages of war with the same morale, because you have a great work to do.”
According to Iran's Nour News news agency, following his important talks in Tehran on Sunday, the Syrian leader left for Damascus.
Assad paid his first visit to Tehran in February 2019, after a tripartite Iran-Russia-Syria coalition managed to suppress Takfiri terrorists and restore partial peace to the Arab country.
Then commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Quds Force Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani accompanied the Syrian president in his first Tehran visti. General Soleimani was later assassinated by the occupying US forces in Iraq upon direct order of then US President Donald Trump.
During their first meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei told Assad that the Islamic Republic was honored to support Syria and considered it equal to supporting the entire resistance front.
The Leader mentioned resistance of Syrian president and people as the main reason behind the defeat of the United States and its regional mercenaries, noting, "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers supporting the Syrian government and people as helping the resistance movement and current, and takes pride in it from the bottom of its heart."
