President Bashar Al-Assad on Tuesday sent a cable of condolences to the family of prominent Arab thinker and freedom fighter Anis Al-Naqqash who passed away on Monday in Damascus.

“We received, with utmost sorrow and sadness, the news of the death of Arab thinker Anis Al-Naqqash. We extend our heartfelt condolences to you and to all freedom fighters and men of resistance,” the cable reads.

President Al-Assad said in the cable that the late thinker spent his lifetime in resisting the occupation and its agents in our region and in defending just Arab causes, both physically and mentally, stressing that the Syrians will never forget him.

He added that Al-Naqqash will continue to be one of the honorable symbols and will be immortal in the Arab memory. Generations will derive from him the meaning of adherence to their homeland and to the nation’s just causes, the president pointed out.

President Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday issued Law No. 8 for 2021 which provides for establishing micro-finance banks.

The law aims at ensuring funding for the projects of small producers, entrepreneurs as well as limited and zero-income citizens.

According to the law, the banks are to provide loans for the targeted people to start work and ensure additional income with the aim of creating new job opportunities and achieving sustainable development.

President Bashar Al-Assad on Wednesday received Ali Asghar Khaji, Senior Aid to Iran's Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, and the accompanying delegation.

Discussions during the meeting focused on the strategic relations between Syria and Iran as well as cooperation in all domains, mainly economy to help the Syrian people confront the siege and the unilateral coercive measures imposed on their country. 

Talks focused on several political topics, including the meetings held in Astana format and the need to build on what has been achieved in previous meetings, in addition to the topics on the agenda of the next meeting in the Russian city of Sochi. 

The two sides also talked about the meetings of the constitutional committee on Syria recently held in Geneva, emphasizing the need to continue the work of this committee without foreign interference in accordance with the rules of procedures that were previously agreed upon and with a clear work mechanism that starts with discussing the main principles and reaching rapprochement on them and then moving to other details.