Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad on Sunday was in Tehran meeting of Iranian leaders, Iranian state-linked media reported, marking his second trip to Tehran since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011.
Nour News, close to Iran’s security apparatus, said in the Sunday report that Assad met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi earlier in the day. It said Assad later left Tehran for Damascus, Syria.
This is the first visit by Assad in more than two years. His earlier visit was in February 2019.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said during a visit to Damascus in March that Iran’s priority was to strengthen strategic ties with Syria in a changing global scene after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Assad was able to turn the tide of Syria’s civil war, which erupted from pro-democracy protests in 2011, with crucial help from Iran’s proxy militias and Moscow’s major military intervention in 2015.
Iran’s economic influence in Syria has grown in recent years, supplying Assad regime with credit lines and winning lucrative business contracts.
Iran is a key regional supporter of Assad in the Arab nation civil war that erupted in 2011.
