"Long-term strategic cooperation" is also included in the package. The agreements cover various sectors, including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing. Syrian Premier: A "message to the world". An agreement that will exacerbate tension with the United States and Israel.
Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Late yesterday evening, Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding. Within the package a "long-term strategic cooperation" is envisaged, aimed at strengthening the collaboration between Damascus and its key ally (together with Moscow) in the civil war - with jihadist drifts and regional implications - that for over seven years has upset the country.
According to the official Sana agency, the agreements cover a wide range of sectors including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing. The signing came in the context of the official visit to Damascus by the Iranian Vice-President, Eshaq Jahangiri.
The Syrian premier Imad Khamis speaks of a "message to the world" on the real consistency "of the collaboration between Syria and Iran". He also cites "legal and administrative structures" that will benefit the Teheran companies that intend to invest in Syria with a view to "post-conflict" effective reconstruction.
In the context of the agreement there are two railway projects signed by the respective national companies. Added to this, the Prime Minister continues, there is a work to restore the ports of Tartus and Latakia, in addition to the construction of a 540 megawatt power plant. Finally, there are "dozens of projects in the agricultural sector and in the oil sector".
The war in Syria has caused almost 500,000 victims, over seven million displaced people and enormous damage to the country's economy and infrastructure, once among the most modern and advanced in the entire Middle Eastern region. According to UN estimates, the cost for reconstruction is estimated at 400 billion dollars. Iranian vice-president Jahangiri promised that the Islamic Republic "will stand next to Syria in the next phase, which will be marked by the reconstruction program".
Last August Damascus and Tehran had already signed a military partnership and in recent years the Islamic Republic has supported the Syrian ally with oil supplies and various lines of credit. A strengthening of the cooperation that will exacerbate the clash with Washington - which promoted sanctions against Iran and representatives close to the Syrian President Assad - but especially Israel, which recently launched several raids in Syrian territory to hit Iranian targets.