Iranian foreign minister to meet Assad in Damascus

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday, Tehran said over the weekend, in what would be their first official meeting in a year.

Zarif plans to travel to Damascus for a one-day visit to discuss bilateral relations, regional developments and Syria's "fight against terrorism", the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Zarif will also meet his Syrian regime counterpart Walid Muallem, it added.

Read more: Investing in death - How Iran funded Assad's war at the expense of its own citizens

Iran, along with Russia, is one of the Assad regime’s main allies in the conflict that has ravaged Syria ever since the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests by the regime in 2011.

Iran and its militia allies across the Middle East have sent men and weapons to fight for the Assad regime against rebels.

Zarif previously met Assad during a visit to Damascus in April last year.

More than 500,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict and millions more displaced, mostly as a result of bombardment of civilian areas by the regime and its allies.