Iranian president arrives in Syria for first visit since war

Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has arrived in Damascus on his first visit as an Iranian head of state to Syria since the civil war broke out in the country in 2011, Syrian and Iranian state media said on Wednesday.

The last Iranian president to visit Syria was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010.

Tehran, a major ally of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has provided military support for his forces fighting rebels seeking to topple him in the conflict.

During the visit, Raisi would meet with al-Assad, Syrian and Iranian state media reported.

“The importance of this trip, in addition to its political, security and economic dimensions, is the manifestation of the victory of the political will of the resistance.

“Also the success of the administration’s diplomacy in completing the regional convergence process,” Iran’s Foreign Minister, Amir Abdollahian, was quoted as saying by Iran’s IRNA news agency.

Raisi’s visit also came after a rapprochement between Iran and its key regional rival Saudi Arabia, which previously supported the Syrian opposition against al-Assad.

On Monday, four Arab foreign ministers met in Jordan with their Syrian counterparts and discussed steps to solve the Syrian crisis and normalise ties with al-Assad’s government.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League in 2011 in protest at the government’s use of excessive military force to quell a pro-democracy uprising that evolved into a civil war.