Iran’s president-elect has reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and the shi’ite terrorist group Hizbollah.

The country’s official IRNA news agency cited Hasan Rouhani saying that close Iranian-Syrian ties will be necessary to confront “enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime”.

Mr Rouhani also responded to a congratulatory message from Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the president-elect praised the terrorist group’s resistance against Israel, according to Iran's Mehr news agency.

The incoming Iranian president made reference to Syria’s civil war and voiced the Islamic Republic’s support for the Assad regime.

Mehr news reported him saying that “the resistant and great nation of Syria would pass the current juncture and maintain its independence and territorial integrity”.

Iran has been the Syrian president’s main ally in his war against mostly Sunni rebels in which more than 100,000 people have been killed.