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I missed mentioning that #Assad congratulated #Lukashenko for his "re-election". They both know very well how to organize a facade elections :) https://eng.belta.by/politics/view/syrian-president-congratulates-lukashenko-on-re-election-132519-2020/
Just for the context.
"Since the first days of the conflict in Syria, Belarus has been on the side of the Syrian people and government" - Lukashenko`s Belarus is one of the main hotspots for Syrian govt. https://eng.belta.by/president/view/lukashenko-belarus-has-always-been-on-the-side-of-syrian-people-and-government-122835-2019/
"Since the first days of the conflict in Syria, Belarus has been on the side of the Syrian people and government" - Lukashenko`s Belarus is one of the main hotspots for Syrian govt. https://eng.belta.by/president/view/lukashenko-belarus-has-always-been-on-the-side-of-syrian-people-and-government-122835-2019/
Throughout the Syrian civil war, Belarus has also quietly been contributing to Bashar Assad’s regime. Belarus has been working with Assad to upgrade Syrian medium-range rockets, including in the Syrian military’s Scientific Studies and Research Center facility.
Since at least 2012, Western countries have suspected that Belarus maintained ties to the Syrian military’s Scientific Studies and Research Center. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/belarus-may-be-providing-syria-with-deadly-military-technology/258497/
In 2012, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on a state-owned Belarusian defense contractor, Belvneshpromservice (BVPS), for allegedly providing Assad with “fuses for general purpose aerial bombs.” https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1714.aspx
In June 2016, the US again imposed sanctions on Belarus’s BVPS for violating Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act. The sanctions remain in place.
The @SIPRIorg, which team tracks weapons sales, calculated that Belarus made $625 million in arms sales from 2012 to 2016, making it the 18th largest weapons dealer in the world at that time.
The posting of a major-general as Syria’s defense attaché to Minsk in 2016, Maj. Gen. Samer Arnus, also points to the high level of military cooperation between the regimes.
http://www.mil.by/ru/news/53738/
http://www.mil.by/ru/news/53738/
While Minsk points to the deals with Assad, their importance was inflated as Belarus attempted to compensate for allegations made by pro-Russian news outlets that some Belarusian defense companies were supplying Syrian opposition fighters through Bulgaria a few years ago.
The reports of supplying the Syrian opposition via Bulgaria had strained the relationship between Russia and Belarus over Syria, where ties are seen as close but tense. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/zapad-2017-what-it-reveals-about-the-prickly-russia-belarus-22271
