(Source: http://www.inforos.ru/ru)

The Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad thanked the Russian President Vladimir Putin for the salvation of Syria during the meeting with him. The transcript of the talk is published on the website of the Kremlin.

According to the Syrian leader, the Russian Federation and the Russian people render invaluable help to Syria, support its unity and independence.

According to Assad, “first of all, the political steps taken by the Russian Federation since the beginning of the crisis did not allow the events in Syria result in a tragic scenario”. The Syrian president also noted that the victory over terrorism was needed for political settlement in Syria, since otherwise the Syrian people would not be able to express their will and determine the future of the state.

The meeting of the presidents was held on Tuesday, October 20. The parties discussed the fight against terrorist groups, the plans on the support of the Syrian armed forces, the details of Russian operations in the country, the aspects of bilateral relations, as the Kremlin spokesman said. Peskov refrained from commenting when answering the question whether the heads of states discussed the future of Assad.

On September 30th Russian Aerospace Forces (ASF) began pinpoint strikes on the objects of the terrorist group “Islamic State” (IS) in Syria which is prohibited in Russia. 

The operations began after the Russian President Vladimir Putin had received the mandate of the Federation Council on the use of the Armed Forces abroad Russia. The appeal for rendering military assistance to counter the Islamic State was received by Moscow from the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.