Putin makes rare visit to Syria, meets Assad

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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Syria on Tuesday and met with officials including President Bashar Assad, Syrian state media and a Kremlin spokesman reported.

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Putins visit is the second to the war-torn country where his troops have been fighting alongside Syrian government forces since 2015.

The visit comes amid heightened tensions between Iran, a key Syrian ally, and the United States, following the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike in neighboring Iraq.

Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimanis death has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against America.

U.S. troops are based in eastern Syria, making the country a potential site of conflict with Iran.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin visited the Russian command post in Damascus and met President Bashar Assad there. The two leaders were presented with military reports on the situation in different regions of Syria.

In his conversation with Assad, Putin said that “a huge distance has been covered in terms of restoring Syrias statehood and territorial integrity,” Peskov said.

State news agency SANA gave no further details about Putins visit only saying that he met with Assad in a Russian military base in the capital.

The last time Putin visited Syria was in 2017 when he declared Read More – Source