Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started a two-day official
visit to Syria on Thursday in a bid to strengthen political and
economic relations amid mounting international pressures on both
Tehran and Damascus.
"The visit sends a strong message that the two countries are not
isolated," Syrian political analyst Fayez Sala told Xinhua.
During his stay, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to hold two meetings
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, one to sign several economic
and cultural agreements, while the other, a closed-door meeting, to
discuss regional and international issues of common concern,
disclosed an Iranian diplomat who asked not to be named.
"The visit comes in a very sensitive and complicated situation,
because the two sides are both facing massive international
pressures," the official said, adding that the visit "highlighted
the important strategic ties between the two countries."
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Both on the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, Tehran and
Damascus are also both accused by Washington of taking insufficient
actions to prevent armed opponents of the US-led coalition forces
from crossing into Iraq.
"Meetings of high-ranking officials are necessary when the two
countries both facing pressures and threats from the United States,
" Sala said.
Both Iran and Syria are now entangled in their foreign
affairs.
Syria is facing mounting international pressures over its
alleged role in the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik
Hariri while Iran has been in the hot water over its disputed
nuclear program.
Washington urged Damascus to stop obstructing the UN probe into
Hariri's murder and respond positively to the requests by the UN
investigation commission, threatening to refer Syria to the UN
Security Council for further actions if Damascus does not
cooperate.
For Iran, the United States, Britain, France and Germany have
threatened to refer Tehran to the Security Council after it has
resumed nuclear research recently and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, will hold an
emergency meeting in early February on the issue.
"Tehran and Damascus maintain a strategic alliance, so they
support each other on both the Hariri probe and Iran's nuclear
issue," Sala said.
"Damascus shows support to Iran's right of peaceful nuclear
utilization while Tehran stresses that the Hariri probe must be
based on a just and legal framework and avoid a forehand
allegations," he added.
In addition, both Syria and Iran back the Hezbollah, a radical
Shiite militia movement, which is branded by Washington as a
terrorist group.
Washington also backs disarming the group under UN Security
Council Resolution 1559.
"The two countries insist on the legal existence of Hezbollah
and oppose to disarming the group as long as the Sabaa farm is
occupied by Israeli troops and Lebanese captives are still held in
Israeli jails," Sala said.
"The stances of Tehran and Damascus are very clear regarding the
issues of the region," Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on Wednesday.
"Tehran and Damascus are against the foreign intervention in the
Middle East affairs."
Close ties between Iran and Syria can be dated back to the Iran-
Iraq war during 1980-1988, when Syria sided with Tehran against
Iraq which was then ruled by Saddam Hussein.
The two countries also witnessed gradually improved economic
cooperation and bilateral trade volume reached US$210
million?in 2005, according to Syria's official
al-Thawra newspaper.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2006)
