DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Two of Iran’s highest-ranking commanders made a surprise visit to Damascus on Sunday to meet with their Syrian military counterparts, reports said.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian armed forces General Muhammad Hussein Baqeri and head of the Quds Force for the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) General Qasem Soleimani were about to meet senior officials.
Heading a military delegation, Bageri is visiting Syria with the aim of developing defense cooperation and consulting with Syrian and Iraqi officials on ways of coordinating their anti-terrorism efforts.
Bageri and his counterparts were also to discuss enhancing security along the borders between Syria and Iraq where the United States plans to keep a controversial military base despite initial plans to withdraw all troops.
His visit includes a tour of areas where Iranian military advisors are based.
Throughout the eight-year-long war on Syria, Iran has emerged as a key regional supporter of the Arab country, helping retrieve many areas from foreign-backed terrorists.
The visit comes just two weeks after President Bashar al-Assad made his first visit to Tehran since the start of the Syrian conflict eight years ago.
Assad met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyd Ali Khamenei who told him "the buffer zone that Americans are after in Syria is among dangerous plots that should be rejected,” and that the U.S. plan to maintain a presence in Syria near the Iraqi border "is another sample of their designs.”
Syrian state TV said Assad "thanked the Islamic Republic’s leadership and people for what they have given to Syria during the war.” Assad’s office said "both sides expressed their satisfaction with the strategic levels reached between the two countries in all fields.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran is "proud” of the assistance it offers to Syria.