Syrian Interior Minister Due in Tehran This Week

Syrian Interior Minister Major General Muhammad Ibrahim al-Sha’ar will pay an official visit to Tehran in coming days to discuss bilateral ties and regional developments in meetings with senior Iranian officials, a senior official announced.

“The Syrian interior minister will arrive in Tehran later this week,” Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Babak Dinparast said on Monday.

During his stay in Tehran, the Syrian interior minister will meet his Iranian counterpart Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli to discuss the latest regional developments, specially Syria and the existing avenues for the further broadening of bilateral ties.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a meeting with Syrian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Jihad al-Laham stressed that Tehran will never leave Damascus alone and will continue its all-out aid and assistance to the nation.

“The Iranian government and nation will remain beside the Syrian government and nation to the end,” Rouhani said in the meeting in Tehran.

He also underlined the necessity for strengthening and expanding relations between the two countries, and said, “We are sure that enemy states will fail to impose their conditions on the Syrian nation.”

Emphasizing the terrorists’ failure in bringing the Syrian nation down to its knees, Rouhani said, “Unfortunately, certain regional states have done wrong calculations and think that the terrorists are always a tool in their hands to reach their goals, but they (the terrorists) will backfire (on their supporters) sooner or later.”

Laham, for his part, appreciated the Iranian nation and government for their support and aid to the Syrian people in their fight against terrorism.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 210,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.