Iran, Iraq, Syria bound by battlefield blood: Assad

AVA- “The relation, which gathers Syria with Iran and Iraq, is strong,” Assad said in the capital Damascus on Monday, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the visiting Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri and the latter’s Iraqi counterpart Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanimi. Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub was also in attendance during the meeting.
The bond was reinforced during Syria’s battle against foreign-backed terrorism and militancy, Assad added, as the blood of Syrians, Iranians, and Iraqis “have mixed in the battle against terrorism and its mercenaries, who are considered as a mere façade for the countries that support them.”
Militants and terrorists bankrolled by the United States and some of its Western and regional allies launched a campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Syria in 2011.
Enlisting the help of its allies, Iran, Iraq, and Russia, however, the Arab country reversed the course of the battle, reclaiming one territory after another from the foreign-backed assailants.
The Islamic Republic’s assistance has featured military advisory support, while Iraq would battle terrorism on its common border with Syria and conduct sanctioned airstrikes against terror havens on the Syria soil.
Assad said the meeting was also one among the principles, with which “our people are distinguished and we are proud of, most importantly, the dignity and sense of honor.”
The Syrian head of state and the top brass also discussed field developments in Syria and enhancement of coordination among the threesome nations towards a more successful anti-terror battle.
Baqeri, for his part, said that anti-terror fight and defending Syria, in turn, boosts Iraq and Iran’s security as terrorism threatens the three countries alike and also targets the region as a whole, SANA said.
The states and peoples of the region have to coordinate their efforts to combat this threat, he added.
Earlier on Monday, Baqeri, al-Ghanimi, and Ayyoub held a joint press conference in Damascus following a trilateral meeting.
During the presser, the Iranian military chief warned about efforts by stooges of the global arrogance to fuel insecurity in the Middle East. He stressed that the fight against terrorists will continue until their full elimination.