Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif in Syria to meet with Assad
The one-day visit comes days after alleged Israeli drone strike.
By ANNA AHRONHEIMFILE PHOTO: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif looks on during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow, Russia December 30, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Monday, just days after an alleged Israeli drone strike in the war-torn country.Zarif, who landed in Syria for a one-day visit, met with Assad and Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem to “discuss bilateral ties and regional developments as well as the latest political and field developments with regard to Syria's fight against terrorism,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.It was the first meeting between the two in about a year, since Zarif visited Damascus in April of last year.Iran has been one of the Syrian regime’s main allies in the war that has been ravaging Syria since 2011, sending thousands of militia fighters and equipment to the embattled country.According to Iran’s Mehr News, one of the reasons behind Zarif’s trip to Damascus was to reaffirm Tehran’s role in Syria.“Perhaps in recent months, especially after the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and the rise of the COVID-19 crisis, authorities in Washington and Tel Aviv are assuming that Iran has abandoned Syria. Now, given the Resistance’s power in Syria, it is a good time to pursue aims that have not been yet realized,” read the report, adding that the relations between the two countries “cannot be assessed by normal diplomatic equations.”Iran is among the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, with thousands of people dying from the deadly virus, including several senior government officials.In early March, IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman told reporters that there’s been a decrease in hostile enemy activity targeting Israel due to the continued spread of the coronavirus.Speaking to reporters by phone, Zilberman said that the spread of the virus has affected Israel’s enemies, who have decreased their hostile activities to focus on containing it.While he did not refer to Iran by name, he said that, “there are enemy countries which have been hit much stronger than us by corona and therefore their activities have decreased.”
Nevertheless, in late March Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said that the country’s “war-between-wars” campaign against Iran is continuing despite the spread of the deadly virus. Earlier in the day, Israel Air Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin said that the IAF will continue it’s routine and maintain operational readiness despite the outbreak.There have been several airstrikes in Syria blamed on Israel since the outbreak of the virus, including last week when a Jeep traveling along the Lebanese/Syrian border was targeted in an alleged drone strike.The reports of what the strike was targeting differ. Some say it was Mustafa Munigyeh, the son of Imad Munigyeh who was assassinated in an alleged Israeli-American operation some 10 years ago. Others say the target was weapons or components designed to upgrade Hezbollah’s missile arsenal into precision weaponry.Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as aspirations of regional hegemony. Jerusalem has admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as part of its “war-between-wars” campaign to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the entrenchment of its forces in Syria, where they could easily act against the Jewish state.
