Assad visits Moscow to thank Putin for military support

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has flown to Moscow to thank Russia's Vladimir Putin personally for his military support, in a surprise visit that underlined how Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.

It was Mr Assad's first foreign visit since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and came three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria that has also bolstered Mr Assad's forces.

The Kremlin, which said it had invited Mr Assad to Moscow, kept the visit quiet until Wednesday morning, broadcasting a meeting between the two men in the Kremlin and releasing a transcript of an exchange they had. Mr Putin said he hoped progress on the military front would be followed by moves towards a political solution in Syria, bolstering western hopes that Moscow will use its increased influence on Damascus to cajole Mr Assad into talking to his opponents.

Mr Assad’s confidence is likely to be boosted by the visit, which comes as his forces wage counteroffensives in western Syria against insurgents backed by Mr Assad’s foreign opponent, as well as Islamic State militants. “First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria,” Mr Assad told Mr Putin. “If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater territory.”

Russian officials have repeatedly said they have no special loyalty to the Syrian leader, but his audience with Mr Putin will be seen in the West as yet another sign the Kremlin wants Mr Assad to be part of any political solution, at least initially. The visit also suggests that Russia, and not long-time ally Iran, has now emerged as Mr Assad’s most important foreign friend.

Russian state TV made the meeting its top news item, showing Mr Assad talking to Mr Putin, together with the Russian foreign and defence ministers. The Kommersant daily cited unnamed sources saying meetings between the two delegations had lasted more than three hours.

Common sense move

The Syrian presidency Twitter account said Mr Assad Mr and Putin held three rounds of talks – one of them a closed meeting and the other two including Russia’s foreign and defence ministers. The Kremlin has cast its intervention in Syria, its biggest in the Middle East since the 1991 Soviet collapse, as a common sense move designed to roll back international terrorism in the face of what it says is ineffective action from Washington.

It is likely to use Mr Assad’s visit to buttress its domestic narrative that its air campaign is just and effective and to underline its assertion that its actions show it has shaken off the Ukraine crisis to become a serious global player. Russia has a combined force of about 50 jets and helicopters in Latakia protected by Russian marines. It also has military trainers and advisers working with the Syrian army.

Russia’s air force says it has flown more than 700 sorties against more than 690 targets in Syria since September 30th.

Mr Assad emphasised how Russia was acting according to international law, praising Moscow’s political approach to the Syrian crisis which he said had ensured it had not played out according to “a more tragic scenario”. Ultimately, he said, the resolution to the crisis was a political one.

“Terrorism is a real obstacle to a political solution,” said Mr Assad. “And of course the whole [Syrian] people want to take part in deciding the fate of their state, and not just the leadership.”

Mr Putin said Russia was ready to help find a political solution and hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants “almost on their own”, saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battlefield success in recent times. Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, said Russia’s air support had helped the Syrian army move from defence to attack, saying Moscow would continue to provide military support.

Compelled to act

Mr Putin said Russia had felt compelled to act in Syria because of the threat Islamist militants fighting Mr Assad’s forces there posed to its own security. “Unfortunately on Syrian territory there are about 4,000 people from the former Soviet Union – at a minimum – fighting government forces with weapons in their hands,” said Mr Putin. “We, it goes without saying, can not allow them to turn up on Russian territory after they have received battlefield experience and undergone ideological instruction.”

Positive developments on the military front in Syria would provide a basis for a long-term political solution, involving all political forces, ethnic and religious groups, said Mr Putin. “We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions in the fight against terrorism, but during the political process,” he said, according to the transcript released by the Kremlin. “This will, of course, be in close contact with other world powers and with countries of the region which are interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Mr Putin said.

Interfax news agency said Mr Putin briefed Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan by phone about the talks. Turkey, which supports rebels trying to overthrow Mr Assad, said the Syrian leader should have stayed in Moscow for the sake of his country.

Reuters