Iran: Confident Syria will continue to fight Zionists
With Syrian defense minister trying to soothe ruffled feathers in Islamic Republic, Ahmadinejad calls for tighter relations between Tehran, Damascus. Says he knows Syria 'will not abandon front line until Zionist threat removed'
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Monday for closer defense ties with Syria, the official IRNA news agency reported, a few days after Israel urged Damascus to distance itself from Tehran.
"So far Iran's and Syria's joint and mutual relations in various fields have been of utmost usefulness and defense relations must expand to the extent possible," he told visiting Syrian Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani.
The FARS news agency reported that Ahmadinejad told Turkmani that he is "confident the Syrian leadership will handle the arena wisely and not desert the front line of the struggle until all the threats of the Zionist regime are completely removed."
The Iranian president told his guest that support of the Palestinian people was "akin to supporting efforts for a secure region, since the Palestinians are at the front line of the fight against the Zionist's aggression."
Ahmadinejad also addressed the election of Michel Suleiman as president in Lebanon, calling it "a victory for the united Syrian-Iranian camp."
'Strategic allies'
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar described Syria on Sunday as a strategic ally.Pieter Wezeman, a researcher on conventional arms transfers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said Syria and Iran had military relations but their secretive nature made it difficult to say how substantial they were.
He said Iran was believed to supply Syria mainly with ammunition but there were reports of other kinds of military cooperation. "It is extremely difficult to find any reliable information," Wezeman said by telephone from Stockholm.
Israel and Syria said on Wednesday they had begun a dialogue with the aim of a comprehensive peace, the first confirmation of negotiations in eight years.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday Syria needed to distance itself from "problematic ties" with Iran. Syria, she said, must also stop "supporting terror - Hizbullah, Hamas," two groups backed by Iran.
Syria has demanded the return of the Golan Heights.
The United States said it did not object to talks between Israel and Syria but repeated its criticism of Syria's "support for terrorism".
Political analysts say US hostility to Damascus, and to its Lebanese Hizbullah and Iranian allies, makes a Syrian-Israeli deal unlikely before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
