Weekly Report - 1 July 2010 (WR-10-26)

Syria's President Bashar-al-Assad carried out his first mini tour of Latin America this week. His first port of call was Venezuela, where he was feted by President Hugo Chávez , before moving on to Cuba, Brazil and, on 2 July, Argentina. Al-Assad is following the lead of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has forged close relations with Chávez , and other leaders in the region, in recent years.