WORLD> Middle East
Syrian president to visit Iran soon
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-13 23:32

TEHRAN:Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to pay a state visit to Iran in the near future, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.

The Syrian leader is to visit Iran, the report quoted a Syrian official, who declined to give his name, as saying in Damascus, but he failed to mention the exact date of the visit.

During his stay in Iran, al-Assad is to felicitate his Iranian counterpart on his re-election and is to discuss expansion of mutual relations as well as regional developments, according to the report.

Syria is Iran's closest ally in the region and the two countries enjoy common cultural, political and economic interests. Syria and Iran take Israel as their foe and support Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas movement in their struggle against Israel.

In the more recent development, Syria has reportedly helped French-Iranian citizen Nazak Afshar to be freed from Iran's jail. Afshar was arrested on charges of participating in Iran's post- presidential-election unrest in June.

Currently, Iran is carrying out a big number of economic projects in Syria, including car production and housing projects, and Damascus hosts thousands of Iranian tourists and pilgrims every year.

Syria supported Iran during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, breaking from most other Arab countries.