YEREVAN (Armenpress) An Armenian delegation led by president Robert Kocharian left for Damascus Monday night to attend the funeral of the deceased Syrian leader Hafez al Assad. Infrastructures minister David Zadoyan–National Assembly deputies Gagik Tadevosian–Stepan Zakarian–deputy foreign minister Armen Martirosian and other senior officials were also present.
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian also visited the Syrian embassy in Yerevan on Monday–to express condolences on the death of Syrian President Hafez al Assad.
The prime minister asked Syrian charged affairs Khamed Hassan to convey his condolences to the family of the late president and to the people of Syria. Al-Assad was a friend of Armenia and made a contribution to the development of friendly relations between the two countries–Markarian said.
Al-Assad taught many lessons. One of them is to safeguard Armenian-Arab friendship and strong ties between Armenia and Syria. "We must not forget this lesson"–the prime minister said.