Iran has thrown Syria an economic lifeline by laying ambitious plans for road, rail, air and even electricity links between the two countries, according to official records of high level talks in Damascus. Two documents purporting to be notes of meetings between President Bashar al-Assad's ministers and their Iranian counterparts have been obtained from the email accounts of Syrian officials and passed to the Daily Telegraph.
They provide further evidence of the immense effort Iran's regime is making to shore up Mr Assad, who serves as Tehran's only reliable ally in the Middle East. All the plans outlined in the documents require the cooperation of Iraq, which would have to allow its territory to be used as a corridor between Syria and Iran.
The documents appear to take Iraqi endorsement for granted, suggesting that Baghdad's government has quietly chosen to join Iran and help Mr Assad. Read More
