Khamenei and Assad meet in Tehran following Raisi’s death

While long-standing allies Syria and Iran recently met on the event of the death of Iran’s former President, the two counties equally mourn their losses resulting from shared conflict with Israel.

Syrian President Bashar Assad met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on May 30th to offer his condolences for the recent death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s Student News Network (SNN) reported.

Khamenei and Assad last met in 2022 in Tehran, when both sides called for stronger relations between their respective countries. In a statement from May 30th released by the Syrian presidency, Assad and Khamenei agreed that their ties were strong. 

Assad turned the tide of Syria’s civil war — which followed mass pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011 — with help from Iran’s proxy militias and Russia’s military intervention in 2015.

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Israel, whose existence is not recognized by the Islamic Republic, has mounted frequent attacks from what it claims to be Iranian targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces — including Lebanon’s Hezbollah — have deployed over the past decade to support Assad in Syria’s war.

Though Israel has also retaliated. Tensions between the country and Hezbollah have given way to frequent cross-border strikes in southern Lebanon. On March 29th, an Israeli airstrike aimed at two Hezbollah officials ended up killing 36 Syrian soldiers — the deadliest toll of Syria’s army since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war. 

Student News Network (SNN)