Putin Meets with Syrian Counterpart Bashar al-Assad

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Syria, where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, TASS and the Associated Press reported.

Bilateral negotiations took place between the Russian and Syrian delegations.

The Syrian Telegraph Agency SANA has not given details of the visit of the Russian head of state, and only reports that he met with Assad at a Russian military base.

The visit comes amid tensions between Iran, another key ally of Assad, and the United States after the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani on Friday in a US airstrike in Iraq, the Associated Press said.

Both Washington and Tehran have located forces in Syria, making the country a potential arena of conflict.

The visit was unannounced.

Putin's previous trip to Syria was in 2017 when he visited Russia’s air base in Latakia, in Syria’s northwest.

By Ana Dumbadze