The official Iranian news agency IRNA has reported that this morning Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Muhammad-Najjar and his Syrian counterpart Hassan Turkmeni signed a protocol for defense cooperation between their countries.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad also met with Najjar to discuss Syrian-Iranian military cooperation and the expansion of relations between the two countries.

Najjar said that Syrian-Iranian strategic and defense ties would advance peace, stability, and security in the region, and reiterated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's remarks that these relations were strategic. He added that Iran saw Syria's defense ability as its own, and that Iran believed that expanding defense ties would help strengthen the Muslims in the world and also help address threats by the enemies.

President Al-Assad, for his part, expressed his complete satisfaction with the expansion of defense ties, and stressed the need for broader cooperation and greater coordination between the two countries.

Prior to meeting with the Syrian president, Najjar met with Syrian southern region commander Gen. Nadim Al-Daroubi, and with senior Syrian officers.

Source: IRNA, Iran, March 11, 2007; IRNA, March 12, 2007; Al-Safir, Lebanon, March 12, 2007