Damascus and Tehran—Syria and Iran have signed a deal that gives Iran the right to operate two phosphate mines in al-Sharqiya, some 50 km south of the ISIS-held city of Palmyra, and to invest in an unnamed Syrian port, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. The deal was one of five signed on Jan. 17 during a visit to Tehran by Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis. The deals are said to be part of the Syrian government’s repayment of Iranian debt and for Iran’s help in the recapture of Aleppo.
Syria also has phosphate mines at Khnaifees, about 70 km south of Palmyra. But more than five years of civil war have taken their toll on the country’s mines and output. ISIS seized the mines in 2015 (GM June 1, 2015); their current status is unclear.