Syria PM to visit Iran
IRAN: Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi visits on Tuesday Iran,
his country's key regional ally, a week after Syrian rebels freed 48
Iranians held hostage for more than five months, the foreign ministry
said.
"The Syrian prime minister, leading a high-ranking political and
economic delegation, arrives in Tehran tomorrow," foreign ministry
spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by the ISNA news agency on
Monday.
He did not provide further details about the visit.
Halaqi's trip comes as an air strike on a rebel town near Damascus
killed 13 women and children on Monday, a watchdog said, fuelling
international calls for a war crimes probe into the nearly two-year
Syrian conflict. On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
urged Middle East nations to promote a solution for Syria's conflict
that excludes "foreign intervention," after talks in Cairo with Egyptian
leaders.
The renewed statement of Tehran's position on its key ally came as
fighting dragged on in Syria, where more than 60,000 people have been
killed since March 2011, according to a UN estimate. It also came a day
after the Damascus regime freed more than 2,100 of its detainees in
exchange for 48 Iranians the Syrian rebels had been holding for more
than five months.
Iran has repeatedly advocated a political solution and dialogue
between the government and opposition groups to end the Syrian crisis
and in October Salehi gave Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi a six-point
plan to end the crisis.
Tehran is committed to the survival of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and his regime. It has supplied financial aid and admitted to
sending Revolutionary Guards military advisors to Damascus, but does not
consider that "foreign" interference on its part.
AFP
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