A girl uses her mobile phone inside a grocery shop with low supplies in the rebel-held besieged area of Aleppo, Syria November 12, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail /File Photo

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will be granted a licence to become a mobile service operator in Syria under agreements to expand economic ties between the countries.

Five memorandums of understanding were signed at a ceremony attended by Syrian Prime Minister Emad Khamis and Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri in Tehran on Tuesday, building on ties that have included billions of dollars of Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to regain control of parts of his country from rebel groups.

A consortium affiliated to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) controls much of Iran’s telecoms sector after it bought 50 percent plus one share in the state telecoms company in 2009.

More than 1,000 soldiers deployed by the IRGC to Syria have been killed on the front lines of the Syrian conflict in recent years.