Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Syria on Wednesday, in what will be the first visit by an Iranian leader to the Arab country in more than a decade.
Iranian Ambassador in Damascus Hossein Akbari said in statements cited by state news agency IRNA that Raisi will be in the war-torn country for a “very important” two-day visit.
Iran, which has been a staunch supporter of the Bashar al-Assad regime, also recently agreed to restore diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia in a deal brokered by Beijing after two years of negotiations.
Raisi’s high-stakes visit to Damascus will be the first by an Iranian president since 2011. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the last Iranian president to visit the Arab country in September 2010.