Zarif sees ‘golden opportunity’ in Beirut visit

In the second round of his regional visits after the nuclear agreement, Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut Tuesday evening.

During his visit, the Iranian foreign minister is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Advisor on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz in Islamabad.

Rather, he said that the countries of the region should come together to fight their shared enemies: “the Zionist entity and extremism, terrorism and sectarianism”.

Iran is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest supporter and has been marketing itself as a key player that could help resolve Syria’s crisis following the successfully brokered nuclear deal.

But the day’s surge in violence underscored the improbability of efforts to bring about a truce anytime soon in a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people, displaced half the country’s population since March 2011 and allowed the Islamic State group to flourish.

In India, Zarif is reportedly scheduled to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to discuss various regional issues and expansion of bilateral ties.

An official who attended the meeting said Salam and Zarif discussed Lebanon’s ongoing presidential vacuum and agreed there should be more discussion on this topic.

Zarif also met overnight with the chief of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, according to the Hezbollah-run Al Manar television.

A simultaneous ceasefire began in the regime-held villages of Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwest Idlib province.

One of the most important delayed project between two neighbor nations was the construction of the Peace Pipeline, aimed at exporting Iranian gas to Pakistan, according to Iranian media outlets.

He welcomed Iran’s nuclear agreement signed last month, hoping that it will lead to peace on an global level.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict, confirmed the ceasefire and said talks would continue on evacuating fighters from Zabadani and sending food aid to Kefraya and Foua where thousands of people are under rebel siege. It said the shelling killed one woman and wounded at least 20 people.

The Syrian Observatory reported that at least 12 people were killed in rocket attacks by rebels targeting several neighbourhoods in Damascus, including Abu Romaneh and Bab Touma in the centre.