Putin and Syria’s al-Assad hold talks in Moscow on rebel areas

Syria’s most powerful ally in the decade-long conflict, Russia’s Vladimir Putin denounced ‘foreign forces’ still fighting in the country.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad have met in Moscow to discuss cooperation between their militaries and how to gain control of the last rebel-held areas in Syria. The Monday night meeting between the two presidents was the first since they held a summit in the Syrian capital in January last year. “The main problem, in my view, is that foreign armed forces remain in certain regions of the country without the approval of the United Nations and without your permission,” Putin told al-Assad, according to a Kremlin statement on Tuesday.