Syrian president visits Iran on same day Iran’s foreign minister abruptly resigns

Tehran: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made his first public visit to his closest regional ally Iran since the start of Syria’s war in 2011 on the same day that Iran’s foreign minister suddenly resigned from his post.

Assad met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday, with Syrian and Iranian state television showing footage of the two men smiling and embracing.

Assad regained the upper hand in Syria’s war with the help of Russian air power, Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces, retaking all key population centres from rebels and militants backed variously by some Western powers and Gulf Arabs. The insurgency against his rule is now seen to have collapsed.

It was Assad’s first known foreign visit other than to Russia since the war began, and his first to Tehran since 2010.

Assad was quoted by Syrian state TV as saying he told Khamenei that regional countries should not heed the wishes of Western powers led by the United States to “sow chaos” against Syria and Iran.

“Western escalation will not steer (Iran and Syria) away from defending their own interests,” a state television statement quoted Assad as saying.

Iranian state media said Khamenei praised Assad as a hero who had strengthened the alliance between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.

Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (Reuters, AP).