Putin meets with the Syrian president in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin, the press office of the Russian president announced on July 25.

"I am very interested in your opinion on the situation in the region as a whole," Putin is quoted as saying to Assad.

"Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards escalation. We are seeing this. This also directly applies to Syria," Putin said, according to the Kremlin statement.

The Kremlin said the meeting between Putin and Assad took place on Wednesday, July 24.

"Given all the events that are happening today in the world and in the Eurasian region, our meeting seems very important to discuss all the details of the development of these events, to discuss the prospects and possible scenarios," Assadi told the Russian leader.

This is the first meeting between the two leaders since March last year and took place at a time when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned the possibility of the three leaders meeting and trying to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus.

"Now we have come to a point that as soon as Bashar al-Assad takes steps towards improving relations with Turkey, we will show him the same approach," Erdogan said.

Turkey initially aimed to topple the Assad regime when the Syrian conflict began with a violent crackdown on peaceful protests in 2011, and Ankara backed rebels seeking his ouster.

But, of late, Ankara has shifted its focus to preventing the opening of what Erdogan in 2019 called a "terrorist corridor" in northern Syria.

Erdogan has said he may reconsider relations with Assad and his government in order to work on the safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees.

Turkey has carried out a series of offensives in Syria since 2016 targeting Kurdish militants, Islamic State extremists and forces loyal to Assad.

Pro-Turkish forces in Syria now control two large strips of territory along the border between Syria and Turkey.