Putin meets Syria's Assad to discuss Turkey and Israel

MOSCOW/AMMAN - Russian President Vladimir Putin met Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin as Moscow nudges the Syrian leader towards a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Damascus seeks the Kremlin's help in restraining Israel.

Russia backed Assad in Syria's civil war, launching a military campaign that helped turn the tide of the 12-year conflict in his favour even though the West had called for the Syrian leader to go.

At a meeting in the Kremlin, Assad said that he wanted to discuss global and regional events with Putin, including scenarios for the future.

"I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing," Putin told Assad. "Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation, we can see that. This also applies directly to Syria."

The Kremlin said the meeting took place on Wednesday.

Russia has been trying to facilitate a meeting between Assad and Turkey's Erdogan. Turkey severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it supported rebels looking to oust Assad. The Syrian leader views the rebels as terrorists.

A Turkish diplomatic source earlier this week denied a media report saying an Erdogan-Assad meeting would happen in Moscow in August.

When asked if Putin discussed a possible meeting between Assad and Erdogan and whether or not Assad asked for help in ensuring security against Israel, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was a broad exchange of views on "all topics related to the situation in the region around Syria."

"Many of the topics you mentioned were touched upon in one way or another," Peskov said. "That's all I can say."

Syria has been pushing for Russia to use its influence with Israel to get it to rein in Israeli strikes on Syrian military units. Diplomatic sources say Damascus has also prodded Iranian militias to hold back on rocket strikes on Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights.

-(Reuters)