Iranian, Russian officials discuss latest developments in Syria

Iranian and Russian officials in a meeting in Moscow conferred on the latest developments in Syria, and stressed their support for President Bashar Assad's reform plan. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Bogdanov, in their meeting on Tuesday, declared Tehran and Moscow's support for continuation of reforms in Syria. The two sides discussed bilateral, regional and international issues and considered situation in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, and underlined common stance of Iran and Russia on the regional developments. Assad has done a lot in recent months to reform laws and conditions in his country. The Syrian president announced the end to the state of emergency, granted citizenship to many Syrian Kurds and promised parliamentary elections later this year. In January, he issued the latest of thousands of amnesties for those detained since the uprising began. Syria also in February held a referendum on the country's new constitution. More than 14 million Syrians over 18 could vote and almost 90 percent of the voters approved a new constitution in the referendum. Under the new charter, freedom is 'a sacred right' and 'the people will govern the people' in a multi-party democratic system based on Islamic law, the state television reported. The document allows multiple political parties to compete in elections for the legislature, sets a limit of two seven-year terms on the president, and eliminates a clause that guarantees political supremacy to Assad's Ba'ath Party. Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country. Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes. The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad. In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of stirring unrests in Syria once again.