Iran and Russia are helping Syria import fuel which it needs for heavy vehicles including army tanks, allowing Damascus to avoid the full impact of tightening Western sanctions imposed over its violent suppression of dissent, Reuters reported Thursday, April 26. Syria’s need for gasoil, the fuel used in most civilian cars, makes it a perfect fit to swap with Iran, which produces plenty of diesel but has struggled for years to find sufficient supplies of gasoline. An Iranian vessel completed an exchange this week in which it delivered around 32,000 tons of gasoil to Syria and returned to Iran with about 33,000 tons of gasoline. Iran also appears to be helping Damascus by loading ships with Syrian crude and bringing it into the Gulf, even though Tehran has been having difficulty finding buyers for its own sanctions-hit crude exports.