Syria President meets Putin in Moscow; criticises presence of US troops in country

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital Moscow and discussed efforts to fight terror groups in the war-ravaged country. According to the media report, Putin congratulated Assad on winning the recent presidential elections. In the video message released by the office, the Syrian President could be heard applauding the efforts of Russian troops in maintaining peace in the country. "I am happy to meet today in Moscow as the six years have passed since the joint operation against terror started," said Assad in the video message. "Both the Syrian and Russian armies made major achievements not only about liberating lands or returning refugees to their areas but through protecting other people across the world because terrorism crosses borders," added Syrian President. 

Meanwhile, Russian President Putin criticised the presence of foreign troops in Syria and said it was against Syria will. Referring to hundreds of US troops stationed in eastern Syria and working with Kurdish-led fighters in battling the militant Islamic State group, Assad declared "the presence of the foreigners illegal." He said that the US troops don’t have permission to be there from the United Nations or Syria’s government. According to a statement released by the Kremlin, "This clearly violates international law and doesn’t allow you to make maximum efforts to consolidate the country,” Putin was quoted as telling Assad about the foreign forces. "Only a consolidation of all forces in Syria will allow the country to get on its feet and start steady development, moving forward," Putin added.

Syria Russia anti-terror campaign

It is worth mentioning that a protest against the incumbent President began in March 2011 and later turned into a deadly civil war. The conflict between the several domestic and international terror organisations killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Since then, Putin has been supporting the Assad government in the fight against terror groups in Syria. Notably, September 13 meeting was the first such meeting after the two allies met in the Syrian capital in January last year during a summit. The two also met in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2017 and in Moscow in 2015. 
Recently, the Russian warplanes have carried strikes on the last major rebel stronghold in the country. The region is home to nearly 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by the conflict.

(With inputs from agencies)

(Image: AP)