DAMASCUS, June 16 (RIA Novosti) – Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Sunday Damascus plans to bolster relations with its strategic ally Tehran after Hassan Rouhani’s victory as Iran’s president, the SANA news agency has reported.
In his congratulatory telegram, Assad said Syria will seek to “confront the plots of hegemony and aggression against the national sovereignty” in the region and raised hope that such cooperation will be "positive" for the peoples of Syria and Iran and the whole world.
The Independent reported on Sunday Iran has decided to deploy 4,000 troops to Syria to aid Assad's forces in war against rebels. Iran “has proposed opening up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel” as part of the efforts to preserve the Assad regime, the report said, citing pro-Iranian sources.
The decision to send a contingent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria was taken before the June 14 presidential election that brought reformist-backed cleric Rouhani to power, the report said.
Rouhani, 64, a former lead Iranian negotiator on nuclear issues, gained more than 50 percent of the votes in the country’s presidential elections held on Friday.
