Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived Wednesday morning in Damascus -- the first visit by an Iranian official since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, according to Roya's correspondent.

Iranian and Syrian media outlets reported that Raisi would be accompanied by a "senior political and economic ministerial delegation."

The official Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that during the two-day visit, Raisi will meet his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, "and hold discussions on bilateral relations and joint political and economic issues, in addition to positive developments in the region."

In Tehran, government spokesman Ali Bahadri Jahromi said that the visit, which comes following an invitation from Assad, is of "strategic importance" to the two countries and that its goal is "economic."