Assad highlights cooperation with Iran
DAMASCUS — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday underscored the importance of placing longterm cooperation plans between Iran and Syria in the face of the challenges, according to the state news agency SANA.
Assad made the remarks during his meeting with the visiting Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami, who arrived in Syria on Sunday to hold meetings with top Syrian officials and to discuss various issues such as expanding military and defense cooperation.
“Not only the people of the region, but the people of the world, are indebted to the battles that have taken place against terrorists in Syria,” Hatami told Assad in a meeting, according to Tasnim news agency.
Hatami also told Assad that he was hopeful that all of Syria would soon be “liberated” and displaced Syrians could return home.
“Relations between the two countries are strong and stable,” Assad said in the meeting, according to Tasnim.
During the meeting, Assad slammed the policies of the US and its allies, saying the US wants to prolong the Syrian war through supporting the terrorist groups and via adopting the policy of ultimatums.
The US threats increase every time the Syrian army launch an offensive against the terror groups, Assad said, referring to the recent threats of the United States, Britain and France, which threaten to use force if a chemical weapon attack was carried out by the Syrian army.
The three powers’ stance comes as the army is preparing to launch a wide-scale offensive on Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria.
Damascus slammed the warnings, saying these powers are pushing allies of the rebels to use chemical weapons to frame the government forces to justify a foreign strike on Syria.
Assad said the trio’s stance proves “the rightness of the policies of the anti-terror axis (Iran, Syria, and Russia) and the need to strengthen such axis in the face of the sabotaging US approach, which undermines the international stability”.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton said last week that Iran should remove its forces from Syria.
Hatami, meanwhile, stressed his country’s supportive stance in preserving the independence and unity of Syria far from foreign interventions.
He stressed that Iran will continue to work to support Syria no matter how far the threats and pressure go from the countries that support the terror groups.
The visit of the Iranian minister comes at a time when the Syrian army has achieved major progress with the help of Iran and Russia as well as Hezbollah.
Not only the people of the region, but the people of the world, are indebted to the battles that have taken place against terrorists in Syria.”
Amir Hatami, Iranian Defense Minister