Assad thanks Putin in Moscow for help in tackling ‘terror threat’

The Syrian leader Bashar al Assad has met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss the continuation of airstrikes. At the talks, President Assad expressed “enormous” gratitude for the Kremlin’s help and said its military intervention in his country had prevented a “tragic scenario”. And Mr Putin said he would work closely with other world powers to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict.

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 area.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

It is the first known trip abroad taken by Mr Assad since his country descended into a bloody civil war back in 2011, which is estimated to have left 250,000 people dead. “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,” Assad told Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript. Putin hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants “almost on their own,” saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battle field success in recent times.

Politics Assad Moscow