Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whose country strongly supports the Syrian government, visits Damascus on Wednesday (May 3rd) for the first time since the war began in 2011, at a time when Syria is seeking to finance reconstruction.

In the center of the capital Damascus, fortifications present since the first years of the conflict around the Iranian embassy have been removed in recent days, according to an AFP correspondent.

This is the first visit by an Iranian president to Syria since 2010, although Tehran has provided economic, political and military support to President Bashar al-Assad's regime, helping to tip the conflict in favor of Damascus.

Attracting capital to finance the reconstruction of the ravaged infrastructure country has been a priority for the government, since its forces reconquered most of the territory lost at the beginning of the war.

Diplomatic warming

The two-day official visit comes amid diplomatic warming in the region, marked by the thaw in relations between the two Middle East heavyweights, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the trip, at the invitation of President Assad, was of "strategic importance" for both countries and that its purpose was "economic". "The two countries have successfully cooperated in the fields of security and counter-terrorism," and they "can also cooperate in the reconstruction" of Syria, he added.

Ebrahim Raisi is due to meet Bashar al-Assad and discuss bilateral relations, economic and political issues and "positive developments" at the regional diplomatic level, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA. According to the pro-government Syrian daily Al-Watan, the Iranian president is expected to visit several neighborhoods in Damascus.

From the beginning of the conflict, Tehran has sent soldiers it describes as advisers, in support of the Syrian army. Iran supports foreign groups affiliated with it and have fought alongside government forces, including Lebanon's powerful Shiite Hezbollah.

Since 2013, Iran has also opened credit lines, notably to guarantee the oil needs of Syria, hit by an international embargo. Damascus and Tehran also signed bilateral agreements in early 2019 in several areas, one of which included the inauguration of new ports in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus.

Expected agreements

According to Al-Watan, "many agreements and memorandums of understanding" need to be signed, especially in the field of energy. The newspaper added that a new line of credit to be invested in the electricity sector should be negotiated, in a country where power can be cut off for up to twenty hours a day.

"The Iranian side has strongly presented itself as a contributor to the reconstruction phase," Syrian political analyst Osama Dannoura told AFP. "The visit will achieve important economic results and the focus could be on long-term economic strategies," he added, adding that it "will open a new page in the close relations between the two countries."

The unexpected rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran benefits Bashar al-Assad, who is working to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation. Several Arab capitals long hostile to the Damascus regime, including Riyadh, have recently reconnected with it, especially after the devastating earthquake in February in Turkey and Syria.

The visit of Ebrahim Raïssi "became more appropriate after the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation", which, stresses Osama Dannoura, "had an impact on all the hotbeds of tension still existing" in the region.

The last Iranian president to visit Damascus was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in September 2010, before the war in Syria that killed about half a million people. President Assad visited Iran in May 2022, for the second time since the beginning of the war.

With AFP

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app