Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Syrian government praised on Friday the framework deal reached between Iran and p5+1 powers on Thursday.

“Syria welcomes the statement issued on the discussions,” a foreign ministry source said as quoted by Syrian state television, Reuters reported.

“[Syria] considers that this framework agreement will be followed by positive steps and will be another contribution by Iran … to ease tensions in the region and the world,” the source said.

The Syrian government is still headed by the Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has been battling a bloody civil war. More than 200,000 people have been killed in the conflict thus far.

Iran has been a major supporter of Assad by supplying his regime with military support and other resources.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that Hezbollah and Iran are supporting Assad militarily, his dictatorial regime would have been finished,” Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst who teaches contemporary Iranian politics at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya college in Israel, told JNS.org.