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Agence France-Presse

President Vladimir Putin said the Russian army had “saved Syria as a state” after meeting with leader Bashar al-Assad, as Syrian government forces take an upper hand over rebels and Islamic State.
Monday’s talks came during an announced “working visit” by Assad to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, ahead of a summit between Putin and the leaders of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday aimed at re-booting the Syrian peace process.

“As for our joint work in the fight against terrorism in Syria, this military operation is coming to an end,” Putin said, according to a transcript published on the Kremlin’s website.
The Russian leader praised Assad and predicted terrorism would suffer an “inevitable” defeat in the country.

“Thanks to the Russian army, Syria has been saved as a state. Much has been done to stabilise the situation in Syria,” the transcript said.
“It is in our interest to advance the political process … we don’t want to look back and we are ready for dialogue with all those who want to come up with a political settlement,” Assad said in translated comments.

Putin said he would consult world leaders on his talks with Assad, including with US president Donald Trump in a telephone call expected on Tuesday.
The Russian army’s Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Russian news agencies that “despite the fact that there remains a raft of unresolved problems” the military stage “is coming to its logical conclusion”.

Putin will Wednesday host Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Hassan Rowhani for the first in a series of summits on the peace process, ahead of parallel UN-led talks in Geneva set for November 28.
The meeting – the first such three-way summit between the trio – comes as Ankara, Moscow and Tehran cooperate with increasing intensity on ending the over six-year civil war in Syria that has left 330,000 dead and millions homeless.

The cooperation comes despite Turkey still officially being on an opposite side of the Syria conflict from Russia and Iran, which are key Assad backers.
“Assad’s visit … shows that there was a need to relay the Syrian leadership’s position on a future settlement to the Kremlin, and that [Assad] was interested in the forthcoming summit with the presidents of Iran and Turkey,” said Russian political analyst Azhdar Kurtov. “It is unlikely this was just another demonstration of the Kremlin’s political loyalty to Assad ... The open-war phase in the Syria conflict will soon be over and the question of a political solution will become more pressing than before.”

Russia, Iran and Turkey have backed negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana that have brought together the representatives of the opposition and the government seven times this year.
The talks led to the creation of four so-called de-escalation zones that produced a drop in violence, but sporadic fighting and bombardment has continued.

Moscow is now seeking to steer the process in a political direction.
The Sochi summit will help to “relaunch direct negotiations between the Syrian government and the range of the opposition”, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Moscow’s military intervention in Syria from 2015 is widely seen as tipping the balance in the conflict.

Since then the Syrian army has reclaimed the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State and driven rebels out of their northern bastion Aleppo.
This week government forces also ousted the IS from its last urban stronghold in the country, Albu Kamal.


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Vladimir Putin

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Russian President Vladimir Putin with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. Photo: AP

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Sochi on November 20, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV

(171121) -- AL-BUKAMAL, Nov. 21, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Syrian soldiers play football in street in the eastern city of al-Bukamal in Syria, Nov. 19, 2017. On Sunday, the Syrian army and allied fighters fully captured the eastern city of al-Bukamal, the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria, leaving the extremist militants just a few pockets in northeastern and southern Syria. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) (yy)

(171121) -- AL-BUKAMAL, Nov. 21, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Syrian government soldiers celebrate victory against the Islamic State (IS) in the eastern city of al-Bukamal in Syria, Nov. 20, 2017. On Sunday, the Syrian army and allied fighters fully captured the eastern city of al-Bukamal, the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria, leaving the extremist militants just a few pockets in northeastern and southern Syria. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani) (yy)

In this Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, hugs with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. Putin has met with Assad ahead of a summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran and a new round of Syria peace talks in Geneva, Russian and Syrian state media reported Tuesday. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, a Russian Tu-22M bomber unloads bombs on IS targets near Abu-Kemal, Syria. The Russian military says that its long-range bombers and cruise missiles have struck the Islamic State group in eastern Syria. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

epa06341418 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2-L), Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (2-R) and Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Valery Gerasimov (R) meet in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, 20 November 2017 (issued 21 November 2017). According to reports the two leaders met over talks focusing on the Syrian conflict. EPA-EFE/MICHAEL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN / POOL MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad talk during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia. Putin has met with Assad ahead of a summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran and a new round of Syria peace talks in Geneva, Russian and Syrian state media reported Tuesday. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

epa06341445 Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (C-R) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C-L) meet with Russian top military officers in the Black sea resoert of Sochi, Russia, 20 November 2017 (issued 21 November 2017). According to reports the two leaders met over talks focusing on the Syrian conflict. EPA-EFE/MICHAEL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN / POOL MANDATORY CREDIT

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A Syrian boy walking amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the northern city of Aleppo. Photo: AFP

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, on February 10, 2017. (Salampix/Abaca Press/TNS)

FILE PHOTO:A man holds bread as he walks along a damaged street filled with debris in Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo

Members of the Syrian civil defence volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, bury their fellow comrades during a funeral in Sarmin, a jihadist-held town nine kilometres east of Syria's northwestern city of Idlib on August 12, 2017, after seven were shot dead early in the morning during a raid on their base, according to the organisation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the seven volunteers had all been killed by bullets to the head. "Two minibuses, some white helmets and walkie-talkies were stolen," the White Helmets said in statement. It was not immediately clear whether the robbery or the murders were the primary motive for the raid. / AFP PHOTO / OMAR HAJ KADOUR

TOPSHOT - Smoke billows in the embattled northern Syrian city of Raqa on September 3, 2017, as Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, battle to retake the city from the Islamic State (IS) group. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN

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A displaced child who fled from the Islamic State (IS) group's stronghold of Raqa embraces a woman upon arrival at the village of Hawi al-Hawa, less than two kilometres (one mile) outside the city, on August 8, 2017. Photo: AFP

Displaced civilians who fled from the Islamic State (IS) group's stronghold of Raqa arrive in the village of Hawi al-Hawa, less than two kilometres (one mile) west outside the city, on August 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN

‘Hot mic’ catches Israeli PM Netanyahu railing against ‘crazy’ EU and admitting dozens of Syria strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech in the Goldmark Room of the Federation of Jewish Religious Communities of Hungary Office in Budapest on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

epa06097446 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (3-R) Israeli First Lady Sara Netanyahu (L), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (2-R), Chief Rabbi of Hungary Robert Froelich (2-L) and President of the Federation of Jewish Religious Communities of Hungary (Mazsihisz) Andras Heisler (R) visit the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary, 19 July 2017. Netanyahu is on a four-day official visit to Hungary in which he is also taking part in the Visegrad Group (V4) meeting. EPA/Kallos Bea HUNGARY OUT