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Syria’s strongest ally in the decade-long conflict, Russia’s Vladimir Putin condemned the “foreign forces” still fighting in the country.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad met in Moscow to discuss cooperation between the two armies and how to control Syria’s last rebel-controlled area.
The meeting between the two presidents on Monday night was the first since the summit was held in the Syrian capital in January last year.
According to a statement from the Kremlin on Tuesday, Putin told Assad: “In my opinion, the main problem is that foreign armed forces remain in certain areas of the country without the approval of the United Nations and your permission.”
Syrian National Television said it was a long meeting and said that afterwards, the Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu joined the two to discuss mutual relations and “fighting terrorism.”
As Assad’s most powerful ally in the decade-long Syrian conflict, Putin last met with Russia’s Syrian leader in 2018 at his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
After being deployed there in 2015, the Russian Air Force played a key role in reversing the situation of the Syrian war to Assad’s advantage, helping him regain most of the territory occupied by armed groups.
However, much of Syria remains out of state control. Turkish troops are deployed in most of the north and northwest—the last major bastion of anti-Assad rebels—and the Kurdish-controlled east and northeast. U.S. military.
‘Control 90% of the territory’
Assad, who was also supported by Iran during the conflict, has rarely traveled abroad since the beginning of the war in 2011.
Syrian TV quoted Assad as saying: “After six years of our joint fight against terrorism, I am very happy to see you in Moscow.”
The Kremlin statement said that Putin told Assad’s foreign troops in Syria that if the United Nations did not make a decision, this would be an obstacle to consolidating Syria.
Putin also congratulated him on winning his fourth term in the presidential election in May.
According to the Kremlin report, Putin said: “The terrorists have suffered very severe damage. The Syrian government headed by you controls 90% of the territory.”
The Kremlin said that Assad thanked the Russian leader for his humanitarian assistance to Syria and his efforts to prevent the spread of “terrorism.”
He praised the success of the Russian and Syrian armies in “liberating the occupied Syrian territory.”
‘Complete liberation’
Assad also described the sanctions imposed by some countries on Syria as “anti-humanity” and “illegal.”
The United States has tightened sanctions on Syria, saying last year that they aimed to force Assad to stop the war and agree to a political settlement.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said that the two leaders discussed cooperation between the Syrian and Russian armies in “fighting terrorism and completing the liberation of land still under the control of terrorist organizations.”
In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists have stated that Russian warplanes have carried out air strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, which is the country’s last major rebel stronghold. Approximately 4 million people live in the area, many of whom have been internally displaced by the conflict.
Last week, the ceasefire negotiated by Russia took effect End the government siege And the fierce fighting in the southern city of Deira. For the first time since 2013, the transaction put the rebels in the city-controlled area under government control.
Russia’s political and military support for Syria has always been a special crux of Moscow’s relations with the West. The West has imposed sanctions on Moscow for supporting the Assad government.
The conflict in Syria began with anti-government protests in March 2011, and later turned into a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Half of the country’s 23 million people before the war were displaced, including 5 million refugees from abroad.
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