TEHRAN: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is set to travel to Damascus on Wednesday, marking the first official visit by an Iranian president to Syria since the start of the war in 2011.
Raisi will lead a “high economic-political delegation” during the two-day trip, which was made at the official invitation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Iran has been a major ally of the Syrian regime throughout the 12-year conflict, providing financial and military support to the government. Tehran has claimed that its forces have only been deployed in Syria as advisers at the invitation of Damascus.
However, Iran’s support for the Assad regime has been a major factor in the regional power struggles that have played out during the war.
The visit comes just weeks after a landmark agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which has raised hopes of greater Arab engagement with the Syrian government.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, described the trip as “very important” due to the changes and developments taking place in the region.
Raisi Iran’s first president to visit Syria since start of civil war
Raisi’s trip will be the first by an Iranian president to Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. Iran is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has given financial and military support to his regime during Syria’s 12-year-old conflict.
The Islamic Republic arms, finances, and commands a number of Syrian and foreign militia groups fighting alongside the Assad regime’s regular armed forces, chief among them Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group.
The visit is also seen as a sign of the growing normalisation of relations between Syria and its neighbours. Jordan is set to host foreign ministers from Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria for talks on ending Damascus’s diplomatic isolation and the ongoing conflict.
Assad hopes that a full normalisation of ties with Gulf monarchies and other Arab states will help to finance the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure.
