Putin, Assad meet in Sochi, discuss prevention of terrorism, bilateral ties

The two presidents discussed combating terrorism and bilateral ties.

Russia is one of the few allies Syria has at the present moment.

The meeting also involved senior Russian military officers and officials, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Greeting his counterpart, Putin said, "I congratulate you on the coming of the holy month of Ramadan and congratulate you on the great successes achieved by the Syrian Arab army in the fight against terrorism. And due to the efforts of the Syrian soldiers, very important steps were gained during the latest period in order to boost the legislative authority in the country where terrorists were expelled from important regions in Syria, which paved the way to start reconstructing infrastructure in the country after expelling terrorists and putting an end to the threat against Damascus.”

"And now we can adopt the forthcoming steps in a joint form as the aspired goal is to reconstruct economy and offer humanitarian aid to people in need.

"As you know, we are in contact with all sides concerned in this complicated process including the UN and its envoy de Mistura, and I wish to discuss with you all these directions for our joint work and I welcome you," he added.

In response, Assad said, "I like to offer congratulations on the occasion of starting your new constitutional term and I believe that the outcomes of latest elections were an indication that the policies you have adopted, whether on the internal or on the international arena satisfied the Russian people who saw this step as giving Russia a bigger and bigger place on the international arena."

“I am happy to meet again in Sochi after several months of our last meeting here, in fact, a lot of positive changes have been done between these two meetings, particularly regarding combating terrorism as the area of terrorists has become more smaller and during the latest weeks, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have returned to their homes and there are millions on their way to return and this means more stability, and this stability forms a broad door for the political process which has started since several years.

"Of course, as we have announced previously, we announce here once again that we always supported, and we have a lot of enthusiasm for this process because it is necessary in parallel with combating terrorism… and we know that this issue will not be simple as there are countries that have no desire to see this stability as completed in Syria, nevertheless, we, and you, and the partners in the peace process will continue, with the same power, in order to achieve peace.. And today’s meeting is an opportunity to put a common view for the forthcoming period in regards to peace talks, whether in Astana or in Sochi.”

“Once again, I thank you, and avail the opportunity to thank the Russian military forces, in particular, the air forces, which played an important role in combating terrorism," the Syrian head of state said.

In a statement, both the countries reiterated their stance of combating terrorism together in Syria.

"In this regard, President al-Assad affirmed that he will send a list that includes the names of candidates to the membership of the committee on discussing constitution in the list of the Syrian government as soon as possible to the UN, and Russia welcomed this decision and supports it,” Putin said.

He added, “We affirm that with the achievement of the big victories and the remarkable successes by the Syrian Arab army in the fight against terrorism and with the activation of the political process, it is necessary for all foreign forces to withdraw from the Syrian Arab Republic territories."

Assad thanked Putin and Russia for helping the Middle Eastern state during its time of crisis, referring to the recent joint strikes it endured from the USA, the UK and France, in response to an alleged chemical attack in Douma, near the national capital Damascus.

Image: twitter.com/KremlinRussia_E