DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – Iran’s president met with senior Palestinian officers in Damascus on Thursday and expressed help for the Palestinian Authority as Tehran and Syria signed a collection of agreements.
Khaled Abdulmajid, a Palestinian official based mostly in Damascus, informed The Associated Press that the delegation briefed Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi on the scenario within the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Iran is a significant supporter of some Palestinian factions, supplying them with weapons and funds.
“The Palestinian leaders thanked Iran for its help for the resistance and the Palestinian trigger,” Abdulmadjid, who attended the assembly, stated after the assembly. He added that Raisi had assured Palestinian officers, together with prime leaders of the militant teams Hamas and Islamic Jihad, that Iran would proceed to help the Palestinians.
Raisi started a two-day go to to Syria, throughout which the 2 nations signed a collection of long-term cooperation agreements on oil and different fields to strengthen the allies’ financial ties. Raisi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and visited a holy web site for Shiite Muslims close to the capital Damascus.
The Iranian authorities has been a significant supporter of Assad’s regime because the 2011 rebellion became a full-scale civil struggle, and has performed a key function in turning the tide of the battle in Assad’s favor.
Iran has despatched dozens of navy advisers and 1000’s of Iranian-backed fighters from throughout the Middle East to Syria to struggle on Assad’s aspect. Iran can also be Assad’s financial lifeline, sending him billions of {dollars} value of gasoline and contours of credit score.
Syrian authorities forces have regained management of huge elements of the nation lately with the help of two main allies: Russia and Iran.
As Arab governments that when advocated the overthrow of the Assad regime at the moment are step by step making peace with Damascus, Iran is searching for to grab the decades-long Syrian presidency by investments and financial alternatives to ease the deterioration of its personal financial system. They appear to wish to reap the rewards of their help.
According to Syrian state media, Raisi and Assad signed agreements and memoranda of understanding associated to a number of sectors, together with oil, agriculture, railways and free commerce zones.
Iran’s state-owned railway firm has lengthy aspired to increase its rail community by neighboring Iraq and Syria, linking it to Syria’s Latakia port on the Mediterranean Sea and boosting commerce. Syrian opposition teams and Iranian critics see this as one other try by Iran to increase its political affect.
The settlement can also be essential for Syria, whose financial system has hit file lows over the previous decade on account of accelerating inflation, a plunging foreign money and widespread energy outages.
The final Iranian president to go to Syria was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010.
____
Mr. Mourou reported from Beirut.