Syrian Leader Defends Alliance With Iran
The Syrian leader told reporters following his talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that both countries' vision over the past years was "correct."
"This is apparent in two points. The first is that the relation is strategic — and that is evident through the visit of Mr. Ahmadinejad today—and the second point is related to the persistent Arab common work to achieve a stable and independent region whose destiny is linked to the decision of its people," Assad said.
"The relation is natural, not an axis as some may like to implicate … This type of a relationship is for the benefit of these countries, the benefit of stability and the benefit of the region's strength. So, it is our duty as countries to work to bolster such ties," he added.
Assad and Ahmadinejad, who arrived earlier in the day for a 2-day visit, sat for hours in the People's Palace to discuss how to formulate a strategy vis-à-vis U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy moves.
U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and White House Middle East envoy Daniel Shapiro will fly to the Syrian capital on Thursday for the second time in just two months, a new sign of thaw between the two countries after years of tension.
The Obama administration believes engaging the Syrian regime will weaken Syria's strategic alliance with Iran, but Syrian officials have repeatedly dismissed the idea, saying Damascus was more than willing to be a bridge between Washington and Tehran.
Ahmadinejad is accompanied by five ministers, including Minister of Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeedikia and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Ties between Syria and Iran are broad and deep in different fields. Assad visited Tehran in early last August.
"Iran and Syria are more powerful than before the (2003) invasion of Iraq," Ahmadinejad said in the press conference.
"It is time to evict the foreign presence, which has caused so many problems for the people, from the region….'We did not invite them, they are uninvited guests," he added, underlining "there are no obstacles before the development of our bilateral ties which are a model for other countries in the world to follow."
The Iranian President lashed out at what he called the "Zionist occupiers who are destructive microbes.
"Zionism was created to threaten us. To support the Palestinian resistance is a humanitarian and popular obligation," he said in remarks in Farsi translated into Arabic. "Syria and Iran are united in supporting the Palestinian resistance."
Arab diplomats said Ahmadinejad, in his third trip to Syria since taking office in 2005, was also expected to meet the leaders of Damascus-based Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Khaled Mashaal and Ramadan Shalah.
"The meeting would promote the approach of resistance and refusal. It would send a clear message to the racist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which is expanding the settlements in areas Palestinians want for a future state," says Khaled Abdel-Majid, Secretary of the High Council of Palestinian Factions in Damascus.
Washington has said it was aiming at defusing an international standoff over Tehran's suspect nuclear program. Feltman may raise this question when he meets with Syrian officials on Thursday.
"Syria's stance regarding the Iranian nuclear issue is firm, our stance is well known that every country in the world has the right to have nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and this right is guaranteed by relevant international conventions," the Syrian leader said.
"As for talks about suspicions of a military program, then the parties that are advocating this must show us for the sake of credibility what they are doing about the military nuclear program that has existed for decades in Israel," he added.