Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Defense Minister’s Deputy for International Affairs General Hamze Qalandari said Syria was “truly a defenseless” country in the face of Israeli aerial attacks in the past.
However, the Syrian army is repelling a large number of the air strikes at present, he added.
“We find ourselves committed to helping friendly countries, like Syria, to empower their air defenses and counter the aerial targets,” the general stated.
Highlighting the growing interest in the purchase of Iranian military and defense products after the removal of a UN arms embargo in 2020, the deputy minister said the Islamic Republic’s “humanitarian concerns” have given a boost to its arms exports.
Pointing to Iran’s plans for the export of defense-related technologies to other nations, General Qalandari added, “We have assisted many of our neighbors and friendly states not only in terms of equipment and arms, but also in the field of technology of manufacturing defense weapons.”
He also highlighted the successful presence of the Iranian Defense Ministry in international exhibitions and the considerable enthusiasm that foreign customers have shown for Iranian defense products.
In July 2020, Iran and Syria signed a comprehensive agreement to enhance their cooperation in the military and defense sectors.
Iran began providing Syria with advisory military assistance after numerous countries, at the head of them the US and its Western and regional allies started funding and arming militants and terrorists with the aim of deposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in 2011.
Despite initially losing considerable expanses of territory to Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) and other terror outfits, the country, however, rallied with the help of Iran and Russia, another ally of Damascus, and reversed the balance in favor of itself on the battleground.