TEHRAN -- Defense Minister Brigadier General Muhammad Reza Ashtiani expressed Iran’s readiness to equip the Syrian army with the most advanced defensive military weapons and equipment, he said on Monday.
Ashtiani said he made the remarks in a meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Lieutenant General Ali Mahmoud Abbas, pointing to the long-standing support of Iran’s defense ministry and armed forces for the Syrian military in the full-scale war against the Daesh terrorist group and other terror outfits operating across the Arab country.
“This ministry, along with other economic and civil sectors, is sufficiently ready to launch, manufacture and equip the Syrian armed forces with the most advanced defensive weapons,” Iran’s defense minister said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Republic in building factories and launching production lines for strategic defense products to increase the security of the Syrian people, and in order to create multilateral defense infrastructures and boost the country’s weapons power,” he added.
Ashtiani said reliance on “indigenous and endogenous power” is one of the most important components of the country’s authority.
“Iran’s Defense Ministry with the same approach in the fields of land, sea, air, aerospace, electronics, etc. has achieved productive power and, apart from dependence and effect of sanctions on the defense industry, it has managed to bring its operational role to the fore in the field of fighting terrorism and supporting oppressed nations.”
The Syrian defense minister, for his part, underlined that the security and stability of Syria has been established with the support of Iran and its true friends.
“Strengthening Syria’s defense power will make the country more prepared to fight terrorism as one of the members of the Axis of Resistance,” he said.
Appreciating the support of the Iranian defense ministry in the field of defense diplomacy, Abbas said, “The enemies will not spare any efforts to harm the brotherly and friendly relations between Syria and Iran. However, the relations between the two countries of Iran and Syria continue to be broader and deeper every day than before in order to strengthen security and stability in the region.”
Ashtiani, along with a group of Iranian ministers and high-ranking officials, accompanied Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in his historic visit to Syria last week, the first by an Iranian president since the foreign-sponsored militancy gripped the Arab country twelve years ago.
Iran was the first country to rush to Syria’s aid following the 2011 outbreak of the foreign-backed violence. In 2017, military advisory assistance provided by the Islamic Republic helped the Arab nation score a monumental victory over the Daesh terrorist group.