Syria says it 'will stand with Iran' amid speculations that Damascus may cut ties with Iran as it is engaged in indirect talks with Israel. Syria will stand with Iran on all the major strategic issues," President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Syria's Channel 10 broadcast on Tuesday.
"Only one situation would distance Syria from Iran, and that is if Tehran sided with Israel, and if America sided with the Arabs," the Jerusalem Post quoted the Syrian president as saying.
Assad also downplayed the recent indirect talks between Israel and Syria, insisting that the term "negotiations" is just too strong for such talks. "What's happening today is not negotiation, but they are called 'negotiations' in the media," the Syrian president told the interviewer.
Assad's coments come as Israel has recently stepped up efforts to persuade Damascus to cut its ties with Iran. Recently, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Sallai Meridor, declared that the main reason that his government began indirect talks with Syria earlier this year was to "bring about a strategic repositioning" in the region by breaking up Damascus' alliance with Iran. |