Asharq Al-Awsat

Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin, video distributed by the Kremlin press service on Thursday showed.
“I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing,” Putin said to Assad. “Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation, we can see that. This also applies directly to Syria.”
The Kremlin said Putin and Assad's meeting took place Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Putin and Assad last met in March 2023 in the Kremlin on the anniversary of Syria’s 12-year uprising-turned-civil war. At that meeting, Putin emphasized the Russian military’s role in stabilizing the country.
Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.
“Considering all the events that are taking place in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region today, our meeting today seems very important," Assad told Putin via a Russian translator.