Iran delivered 30,000 tons of
food supplies to Syria on Tuesday to help the government deal with shortages due to the civil war, state media said.
As the announcement came that the massive shipment arrived at a Mediterranean port, state TV also reported that government forces had made further advances against rebels near the capital, Damascus.
The aid is part of Iran's broader support for President Bashar Assad as he prepares to run for a third presidential term while his troops battle
rebels seeking his overthrow.
Iran has been Assad's major backer throughout the 3-year-old conflict, lending Damascus military support through its proxy Hezbollah group and advising the government on strategy to fight the opposition. Tehran has also been pumping funds into Syria to save the country's battered economy from collapsing.
Last May, Iran extended a $3.6 billion credit line to Syria, enabling Assad's government to buy oil products and help shore up the diving value of the Syrian pound.
Syria's economy has been hit hard by the conflict, with two of its main pillars oil exports and tourism all but collapsed. Before the conflict, oil exports, mostly to Europe, generated up to $8 million per day. In 2010, the year before the conflict begun, Syria earned $8 billion from tourism.
U.S. and European Union bans on oil imports aimed at punishing Assad's government for its brutal crackdown on dissent are estimated to cost Syria about $400 million a month.
Before the conflict started in March 2011, Syria produced most of the food needed to feed its 23 million inhabitants and even exported wheat. Over the past year, the country has experienced massive shortages because the fighting has been concentrated in opposition-held, rural areas around Syria's major cities, including the capital, and along the border with Lebanon, where most of the agricultural land is located.
Assad's troops have been for months conducting a punishing offensive around Damascus, pounding rebels in villages and towns with artillery and surrounding them with checkpoints, preventing food, crops and medicine from reaching people inside.
After weeks of fierce fighting, Syrian state TV said Tuesday government forces seized a hill with a radar post and several other strategic posts overlooking Rankous, a village in the sprawling Ghouta suburb east of Damascus.
Despite relentless violence, Assad is quietly preparing the ground to hold presidential elections early this summer to win another 7-year term.
No date has been set yet for the vote, which must be held between 60 and 90 days before Assad's current 7-year term ends on July 17. Assad has not publicly said he will run, but in February the parliament approved an electoral law opening the door at least in theory to potential contenders besides the serving president.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Tuesday the elections will go on as scheduled in all Syrian provinces. Presidential candidates will be able to submit their applications during the last 10 days of April, al-Zoubi said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, broadcast Tuesday.
AP