Bashar al-Assad's Discussion with Khamenei on the Fate of the Islamic Republic's Support for Syria

According to Iranian domestic media, Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria, who visited Tehran 11 days after the death of the President and Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, described the two as the main executors of Ali Khamenei's plans in Syria. In a meeting with Khamenei on Thursday, June 10, Assad expressed his condolences for the deaths of Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amirabdollahian in a helicopter crash and stated, 'The relations between Iran and Syria are strategic relations that are progressing under your guidance, and at the forefront of their execution were Raisi and Amirabdollahian.' Khamenei confirmed this but emphasized to Assad that 'currently, Mr. Makber, possessing the powers of the President, continues the same approach, and we hope all matters proceed in the best way.' Mohammad Makber, the First Vice President of Ebrahim Raisi, who is currently overseeing this institution until the presidential elections on July 8, had also reassured Ziad al-Nakhala, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, about the continuation of support. He told al-Nakhala that the fundamental strategy of the Islamic Republic in supporting its proxy groups in the region, especially the Palestinian groups supported by Iran, 'will not change with personnel changes.' Iranian officials refer to their network of supported groups in the region as the 'Resistance Axis,' and Syria is considered part of this 'axis.' However, experts believe that despite the ongoing Israeli attacks attributed to Syria, the most significant being the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which has increased the risk of war spreading to other countries, Bashar al-Assad's government is 'trying' to avoid getting involved in the Gaza war and its ramifications. Last year, Syria was accepted back into the Arab League after about 12 years. Damascus is attempting to attract foreign investment for the reconstruction of the country after years of war and destruction by improving its relations with wealthy Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. In his conversation with Assad, Khamenei apparently warned him, stating that 'the West and their followers in the region aimed to overthrow the political system of this country with the war they initiated against Syria and to remove Syria from regional equations, but they failed, and now they also intend to do so through other means, including promises they will never fulfill, to exclude Syria from regional equations.' There has been no published response from Bashar al-Assad regarding this part of Khamenei's remarks in domestic media.