President Assad on Surprise Iran Visit
Ayatollah Khamenei says Iranians honored to support Syria
TEHRAN -- President Bashar al-Assad on Monday made his first visit to Iran since the start of the foreign-backed war on Syria eight years ago, meeting Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei who said the Islamic Republic is honored to support Syria and considers it as equal to supporting the entire resistance front.
"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," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader told President Assad that his resistance and that of the Syrian people was the main reason behind the defeat of the United States and its regional mercenaries.
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that the triumph of the resistance front in Syria has made Americans angry and prompted them to hatch new plots.
"The issue of the buffer zone, which Americans seek to establish in Syria is among those dangerous plots, which must be categorically rejected and stood against,” the Leader said.
The United States has said it is actively in contact with Turkey on the formation of a possible safe zone in northern Syria. Over the past week, Washington has appeared to be backing down on a plan announced by President Donald Trump to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria.
In a reversal, U.S. reports initially said the Pentagon would leave 200 troops behind and then raised the number to 400.
Ayatollah Khamenei stated that the U.S. plan to maintain a virtual presence along the Iraq-Syria border is another plot by the United States.
"Iran and Syria are each other’s strategic depth and the identity and power of the resistance front depends on this continued and strategic relationship. This will prevent enemies from making their plans operational,” the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Through resistance and cooperation of its people, Syria managed to stand fast against a big coalition consisting of America, Europe and their allies in the region and emerge triumphant from this crisis.”
The Leader also pointed to a miscalculation by enemies in the case of Syria, saying, "The enemies’ error was that they mistook Syria with some other Arab countries. While in those countries, people’s movement was in line with resistance and was, in fact, uprising against America and its stooges.”
Syrian state television reported that the two sides agreed "to continue cooperation at all levels for the interests of the two friendly nations.”
The Syrian president, for his part, lauded Iran’s unsparing support for his country, saying that the Syrian war was similar to the eight-year Iraqi imposed war against Iran during 1980-88
"Iran and Syria are two nations with identity and ideology and although current achievements were gained through much suffering, they are certainly a result of steadfastness of the resistance front,” he said.
Highlighting the heavy damage done to some countries, which had submitted to the United States, the Syrian president said, "Many countries were in awe of America and believed that it was America, which determined the fate and future of the world. However, as a result of the resistance of resistant nations, this erroneous notion is falling apart.”
Assad touched on efforts to stoke divisions among Syrian tribes and ethnic groups, saying the effort had an opposite effect, where "today, Kurds and tribes have forged very good relations with the government.”
"Even those groups which traditionally had differences and conflicts with the government have aligned with the government in spite of America and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
President Assad further called for better communication among Iranian and Syrian scholars of religious issues in order to confront the Takfiri threat.
He also said, "Iran and Syria should continue to expand their economic relations because increased communication will be an important factor in defusing the plots of the enemies of the two nations.”
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