Tunisia President Saied meets Syria regime FM, hails 'common goals'

Tunisian President Kais Saied met with the Syrian regime’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal Miqdad on the sidelines of their visit to Algeria, according to Syrian officials.

The pair met as they celebrated Algeria’s 60^th independence anniversary, where Saied asked the foreign minister to convey his greetings to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the regime’s foreign affairs ministry revealed on Tuesday.

Saied - who rivals accuse of taking further steps to consolidate autocratic rule following his power grab last year - reportedly likened Syrian and Tunisian "achievements" with one another, stating the "brotherly" countries share "common goals".

“[Saied] explained that the achievements made by Syria as well as the steps achieved by the Tunisian people against the forces of oppression and backwardness are complementary to each other,” the ministry stated.

Miqdad also reportedly held meetings with a number of foreign ministers participating in the Algerian celebrations, in which he discussed bilateral relations alongside regional and international political developments.

Last August, Miqdad met with Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Othman al-Jarandi in the first meeting held by foreign ministers of the two countries since Tunis severed its relations with Damascus in 2012.

Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki announced the severing of ties between the countries - after Assad’s violent crackdown on an uprising against his rule - with the expulsion of the regime’s ambassador from Tunisia.

Since the 2011 uprising, over 500,000 civilians have been killed - largely at the hands of regime and Russian bombardment – and over 10 million people have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.