Following the purge of foreign-backed rebels in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo by Iranian, Lebanese and Russian forces, Damascus’s prime minister Imad Khamis was in Tehran to sign five reconstruction agreements on January 17.

The deals signed between Iran’s first vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri and the Syrian PM amount to a clear nod of appreciation from Syrian head of state Basher al-Assad’s government for the help they received from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) troops and Tehran-backed Shia militias in fighting the Qatari and Saudi-backed rebels in Aleppo.

The first of the five memoranda include a deal to allow Iran’s IRGC access to Syria’s airwaves to create a new mobile network.

Other deals signed include giving tracts of land to the IRGC to restart food production in Syria.

Another deal was signed with a not yet announced mining company to explore mineral extraction in the south of the country, a close strategic ally of Iran.

Lastly, another deal was signed between the two officials to include the redevelopment of Syria’s oil and petrochemical sectors.

The IRGC sent thousands of troops to the Syrian front lines to support the Damascus government’s forces in the long five-year civil war which saw some 500,000 people killed.

The deals signed in Tehran also confirm Iran’s access to the Mediterranean and allow it to progress its delayed gas exports from the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Following the deal, Khamis met with Iranian security officials who stated that Iran would continue to support the Syrian government’s stance against the rebels in Syria.