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DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad on Friday received Speaker of Iranian Shura Council, Ali Larijani, and the accompanying delegation.
The meeting tackled the situation in the region, especially the failure of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the victory of the Palestinian Resistance, and the keenness of Syria and Iran on adhering to resistance and supporting it.
Larijani hailed the wise stances of the Syrian leadership in dealing with the crisis, stressing Iran's support to Syria.
President al-Assad highly appreciated Iran's keenness on helping the Syrian people and supporting political dialogue, stressing that Syria will continue work on making national dialogue a success and simultaneously fighting terrorism which aims at destabilizing the security of Syria and the whole region.
President al-Assad and Larijani stressed Syria and Iran's keenness on enhancing bilateral relations in all fields and continuing cooperation and coordination over regional issues of mutual concern.
The meeting was attended by Speaker of the People's Assembly, Dr. Jihad al-Lahham, and the Iranian Ambassador in Damascus.
Answering a question by the press on the visit, President al-Assad said that "It is not an emergency visit; there is continuous communication between us and the Iranian officials. But when the visit is on the level of Speaker of the Parliament, we reassess all the visits made by other officials, especially in these circumstances, the last of which was the Israeli aggression on Gaza which took up a great deal of the dialogue today."
For his part, Dr. Larijani said "Of course we made valuable and very important discussions, particularly regarding the events in Palestine and the great victory achieved by the Palestinian people and the Syrian leadership and people. President al-Assad and his father, the late president Hafez al-Assad, had a very important role in the Palestinian Resistance."
"At a time when some countries in the region were afraid of sending one bullet to the Palestinians, the Syrian government and people were putting all resources at the disposal of the Palestinian people. This is what made some of the region's countries send armed groups to Syria," Larijani said.
"We highly value the role of the Syrian government and people who have always supported the Resistance," he concluded.
Speaker of the People's Assembly, Dr. Jihad al-Lahham also met Dr. Larijani. The two sides discussed the cooperation relations in the parliamentary field and ways to promote them to achieve the interests of the two friendly peoples.
Earlier on September 19th, President al-Assad met Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. The meeting tackled enhancing bilateral cooperation in all fields as to enable the people of Syria and Iran to overcome the unjust unilateral economic sanctions imposed on the two countries and the latest development regarding the crisis in Syria.
Larijani Reiterates Iran's Rejection of Foreign Interference in Syria's Internal Affairs and Support for Political Dialogue
Later on Friday evening, at a press conference following his meeting with Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri in Beirut, Larijani affirmed Iran's utter rejection of any kind of military intervention in Syria, saying that the worst kind of injustice against Syrians is arming some and driving them to fight in Syria.
He said that the difference in viewpoints between Iran and others is that others want to impose democracy by force of arms, while Iran rejects this as such an approach proved to lead only to further bloodshed and destruction.
Larijani affirmed that Iran supports political dialogue and democratic reforms in Syria, stressing that those who send weapons to feed infighting in Syria seek to undermine the resistance against Israel.
On the issue of Turkey's deployment of Patriot missiles on its borders with Syria, Larijani said that such a step wouldn't solve the crisis in Syria, saying that Iran and Turkey differ in viewpoints regarding the methods employed by Turkey to handle the crisis.
He stressed that no external side can make preconditions for resolving the crisis in Syria, saying that efforts to realize democracy in Syria must be reached through ballots.
M. Nassr/ H. Sabbagh
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