Heading a high-ranking delegation, Iranian First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri arrived in Damascus on Monday afternoon to meet with Syrian regime officials and sign a long-term strategic cooperation deal.
The agreement covers comprehensive cooperation at the financial and banking levels, and contributes to facilitating trade exchange and overcoming obstacles that hinder upgrading the cooperation between the two countries.
The official SANA news agency reported that in addition to the strategic deal, Syria and Iran signed 10 other agreements and memoranda of understanding.
It said the agreements covered a range of fields, including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing.
Jahangiri is expected to meet with Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis, in addition to head of the Syrian regime Bashar Assad.
"We will be by Syria's side in the reconstruction phase as we have been by its side in fighting terrorism," Jahangiri said Monday.
Separately, Moscow’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Vershinin and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy on Syria Alexander Lavrentiev arrived in Israel Monday to discuss the situation in Syria with security officials.
The two Russian officials met with Foreign Ministry director general Yuval Rotem.
Their visit aims to discuss coordination between the two sides, particularly following Israel’s airstrikes on Iranian positions near Damascus last week.
Meanwhile, Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) succeeded in reducing ISIS’ control to a four-square-kilometer pocket, a senior SDF commander told AFP on Monday.
“Geographically speaking, there are only four square km left under ISIS control, stretching from Baghouz to the Iraqi border, SDF commander Heval Roni said.
He added that a dwindling number of ISIS fighters, led mostly by Iraqi commanders, are now defending only a handful of hamlets in the Euphrates Valley.
“There are some high-ranking leaders among them,” he said.
