TEHRAN, Mar. 18 (MNA) – President Bashar al-Assad met with a joint Iraqi-Iranian military delegations headed by Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri and Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces Gen. Othman Al-Ghanimi in Damascus.

According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, in addition to General Bagheri and General Al-Ghanimi, a number of Iranian and Iraqi military commanders as well as Maj.Gen. Ali Abdallh Ayoub, Deputy commander-in-Chief  of the Syrian army and armed forces and defense Minister were present in the meeting with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Talks during the meeting focused on the developments on the battlefield in Syria and means of boosting coordination among the three countries' armed forces.

President al-Assad affirmed that the relationship which gathers Syria with Iran and Iraq is strong, and that it was enhanced during the fight against terrorism.

Maj.Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, for his part, stressed that the fight against terrorism and defending Syria is a defense for Iraq and Iran at the same time, as this terrorism poses threat to all these states and targets the region as a whole, adding that this requires the states and peoples of the region to coordinate their efforts to combat terrorism.

In turn, Gen. Al-Ghanimi affirmed that the Iraqi forces will continue combating terrorism along the Syrian-Iraqi borders and are going ahead in coordination with the Syrian armed forces in dealing with terrorist gatherings in that region.

President al-Assad listened to a brief by Maj.Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Gen. Al-Ghanimi and Maj.Gen. Ayoub on the outcomes of their meeting, stressing the importance of continuing coordination and cooperation among the three countries in the interests of their common targets, according to SANA.

Heading a military delegation, Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri arrived in Syria on Sunday to take part in a trilateral meeting of senior commanders of Iran, Iraq and Syria on combating terrorism. 

KI/SANA