The foreign ministers of Syria and his Iran welcomed on Thursday the diplomatic warming in relations between Damascus and regional states after the deadly February 6 earthquake that struck that country and at the same time the Turkeythey said at a joint press conference held in Damascus.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said his country intends to normalize relations with regional states after the political isolation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that lasted more than ten years of war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic also welcomes any initiative for talks aimed at reaching an understanding in the region.

“We welcome the recent resumption of Syria’s relations with some countries,” Amir Abdullahian said.

He also stressed that Iran, which has backed Damascus through 12 years of war, would support efforts to reach a rapprochement between Syria and Turkey, a country that has long supported rebel groups fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

THE Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke with the Syrian president on the possibility of “Iran participating in meetings to build a dialogue between Damascus and Ankara,” the Syrian presidency announced.

The head of Iranian diplomacy “expressed his satisfaction with the rapprochement between Syria and the Arab countries,” the same source added.

The Iranian minister went on Thursday first to the Syrian province of Lattakia, which was affected by the earthquake, and then to Damascus.

The earthquake devastated several areas of Syria and neighboring Turkey, killing more than 50,000 people in both countries.