The Islamic Republic will spare no effort to help Syria in the fight against terrorism, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari said.
"Iran is determined to provide Syria all possible facilities in its critical fight against terrorism," Ansari said in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday. Ansari said "strategic and one-of-a-kind" relations between Iran and Syria go beyond the two nations' interests and are based on common views and understanding of threats such as terrorism and extremism facing all regional nations.
The Syrian president condemned the US-led coalition's deadly airstrike on government forces in eastern Syria at the weekend as "flagrant American aggression".
Assad said world powers are supporting "terrorist organizations" in Syria, particularly the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, SANA reported. Assad said Syria's enemies are focusing all their energies and resources to ensure that the crisis in Syria continues.
"Every time the Syrian state makes tangible progress either on the ground or toward national reconciliation, anti-Syrian states increase their support for terrorist organizations," he said. "The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian Army's positions in [the province of] Deir al-Zor to the benefit of Daesh [an Arabic acronym for IS]."
On Saturday, a US-led coalition attack in Deir al-Zor killed at least 85 Syrian forces and injured hundreds more.IS controls large parts of Deir al-Zor city and the province by the same name. The terrorist group chiefly relies on oilfields in the province to fund its atrocities in Syria.
The Syrian Army has been fighting it out against IS for the control of a key military air base there. Deir al-Zor has been effectively under the siege of terrorists since early 2015 but the militants have suffered major setbacks over the past few months during which the Syrian Army has liberated several areas. The Pentagon has said the attack was carried out mistakenly even though it allowed IS to take over some parts of the region.
A "regime of calm" was announced on September 12 following a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia. The government has accused foreign-backed militants of numerous violations of the ceasefire, the second this year. Also on Monday, Ansari met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and called for expansion of cooperation between their foreign ministries. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the political status quo and developments on the ground in Syria and highlighted the need for the establishment of a committee comprising representatives from Iranian and Syrian foreign ministries.
Muallem urged regular meetings between Iran and Syria for achieving the joint strategic objectives.
