Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Damascus on Wednesday, marking his first visit to Syria as an Iranian head of state since the country’s civil conflict started out in 2011.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the last Iranian president to visit Syria, did so in 2010.
Tehran, a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has supplied military assistance to his forces in their struggle against rebels aiming to destabilize him.
According to Syrian and Iranian official media, Raisi will meet with al-Assad during his visit.
“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.
