World News | Syrian President Assad arrives in Moscow, ready to meet Putin

BEIRUT, March 15 (AP) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, where he plans to meet top ally Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia, Assad’s main backer, has wide influence in Syria, where a 12-year uprising that has turned into civil war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s prewar population. Moscow has played a key role in repelling armed opposition groups seeking to topple Assad’s government through its military backing, and has also actively supported Damascus’ opponents of the United Nations.

Read also | Pakistan economic crisis: Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif sees burden on masses ‘increasing’ as country scrambles to secure deal with IMF.

Putin will meet Assad on Wednesday – the anniversary of the conflict – the Kremlin confirmed in a statement carried by Russia’s state news agency TASS on Tuesday.

According to the statement, “further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in Syria and its surrounding areas” will be on the agenda.

Read also | A Russian Su-27 jet collided with an American MQ-9 Reaper drone in international airspace over the Black Sea.

Assad was received by Putin’s special representative for the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport.

Russia had been mediating talks between Turkey and Syria ahead of the deadly Feb. 6 earthquake that killed 50,000 in the two quake-hit regions.

Turkey and Syria have been on opposite sides in the Syrian civil war for more than a decade. Turkey continues to support an armed opposition group that controls an enclave in northwestern Syria. In December, Moscow hosted surprise talks between the Syrian and Turkish defense ministers.

Syria has recognized the Russian-controlled regions of Lugansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as separate sovereign entities since last summer.

The deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey and Russia, as well as a senior adviser to Iran’s deputy foreign minister, will also meet in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss Syria’s “counter-terrorism efforts.” (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)