Iranian official media reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Iran, his closest regional ally, where he met Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Sunday, and they called for closer relations between Tehran and Damascus.

The Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency said that Assad - who is visiting Tehran for the second time since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011 - also met Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi during his unannounced visit.

According to state television, Khamenei told al-Assad that "Syria today is not what it was before the war, although there was no destruction at that time, but the respect for Syria and its position is greater than before, and everyone sees this country as a power."

Khamenei said that Syria has achieved important achievements on the political and military arenas, stressing the need to continue and strengthen communication between the two countries more than before.

The Iranian guide stressed that "some leaders of the neighboring countries of Iran and Syria meet with the leaders of the Zionist entity, but their people raise slogans against it on Quds Day, and this has become the reality of the region," as he put it.

Iranian state television quoted al-Assad as saying that "the strategic relations between Iran and Syria have prevented the Zionist entity from controlling the region," stressing the need for this strategic relationship to continue strongly.

The Iranian "Noor News" agency said that Assad left Tehran for Syria.

Israel, which Tehran refuses to recognize, has launched frequent attacks against what it described as Iranian targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces and militias, including fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah, have deployed over the past decade to support Assad in the Syrian war.

And the Iranian "Semi-official" Tasnim news agency quoted the Iranian president as saying - during his meeting with Assad - that his government's priority is to strengthen strategic relations with Syria.

Tehran's economic role in Syria has grown in the past years;

It provided the Assad regime with lines of credit and won lucrative business contracts.