Bashar al-Assad said victories against terrorism will not end in Deir ez-Zor, where the Syrian army and international allies are currently battling ISIS, according to a statement on Tuesday from his office where he hosted Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader.
The two stressed their commitment to regional stability and security in the face of Western attempts to divide and weaken states in another hint at a possible offensive against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who are waging a parallel battle against ISIS in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor.
Assad’s government considers all groups fighting against them as terrorists. The country is in the seventh year of a civil war.
Last week, Velayati said that regime forces and Iranian-backed militias would soon march on Raqqa, recently liberated from ISIS by the SDF.
The SDF are dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) – the military force of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which has established a semi-autonomous region in northern Syria, which Damascus deems “illegal.”
Assad told Velayati that the war will continue until they have recovered and secured “all Syrian lands.”
In their meeting, Velayati offered his congratulations to the Syrian leader, saying that years of resistance against terrorists “has been fruitful in terms of restoring security and political stability to Syria,” according to Iran’s Tasnim news.
Iran is a key ally of Assad’s regime. The influential Iranian advisor said that the fates of the alliance of countries opposed to American and Israeli influence, dubbed the Resistance Front by Iran, are now tied together and their enemies are at their weakest.
Velayati also met with Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis while in Damascus. They discussed boosting economic and trade cooperation, according to Syria’s state-run media SANA.
Moscow, another key Damascus ally, is stressing the need for a political process to resolve the Syrian conflict.
“The fight against terror in Syria is coming to an end,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, explaining that “the political process is becoming ever more important.”
Russia has led diplomatic discussions over Syria through the Astana process with Iran and Turkey, and has also coordinated with the United States and the United Nations. Lavrov denied reports that a planned peace congress in Sochi on November 18 had been postponed, stating that no date had yet been set and discussions over the agenda were still ongoing.
Turkey had claimed that the meeting was postponed at Ankara’s request over objections to the inclusion of a Kurdish delegation.
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