AFP: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Tehran on Saturday and immediately went into talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, local media reported.
TEHRAN (AFP) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Tehran on Saturday and immediately went into talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, local media reported.
Soon after a guard of honour, Assad went into a meeting with Ahmadinejad “to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine,” a report by ISNA news agency said.
Assad’s visit comes just days after former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi said he asked Syria to persuade Iran to keep out of his protracted battle for the premiership with incumbent Nuri al-Maliki after inconclusive elections in March.
It also precedes Ahmadinejad’s visit later this month to Lebanon, where Iran’s ally Hezbollah is locked in a bitter war of words with Prime Minister Saad Hariri about a UN-backed court’s probe into the assassination of his father, Rafiq Hariri, in 2005.
Assad is accompanied by Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
ISNA said the Syrian president will be given a “medal of valour” by Ahmadinejad during his visit.
Assad previously visited Iran in August 2009.
