Rouhani says Tehran, Damascus share goal of battling 'Zionist occupiers'; top official calls for international action against 'bloodsucking, anti-human' Zionist regime

Confidant of Assad served as envoy to US during Syria’s talks with Israel in 1990s; in 2006, he wished he could join Hezbollah fighting against Israel

Walid al-Moallem blasts US sanctions as an 'inhumane attempt to suffocate Syrians, just like George Floyd and others were cruelly suffocated in the United States'

Elections postponed twice due to pandemic, with any real opposition absent, and the ruling Baath party expected to retain its hegemony

FM Muallem decries Caesar Act as an attempt to undermine support for dictator Assad and force him to 'abandon' his alliances

Foreign minister blames US for blindly allowing Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, which says are 'heightening tensions to unprecedented levels'