Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced concern at the turmoil in the Middle East and stressed Moscow's desire for a diplomatic role in the region, as he held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the AFP news agency reports.

"The situation in the region remains tense. We see that the region is practically moving from one conflict to another and that cannot but concern us," Putin said at the Kremlin meeting Tuesday.

Noting that he had recently hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Putin said: "We continue in the most active way possible to participate in the Middle East peace process and continue to have contacts with all the political forces in Palestine".

Al-Assad responded by hailing Russia's efforts: "Our cooperation has become firmer recently and one of the aims of my visit is to widen that cooperation in different areas. We have a lot of areas where we can cooperate," al-Assad said. "With our efforts we play an important role in ensuring the stability of the region and we will orient others to act with the same aim," he told Putin.

Russia has been trying to restore something of its Soviet-era influence in the Middle East and the Kommersant newspaper said Putin would seek the Syrian leader's support for a long-standing Russian bid to host a Middle East conference.

News reports said earlier that Putin's talks with al-Assad would range from the situation in the Palestinian territories to Lebanon and Iraq. Russia is a member of the so-called Middle East diplomatic quartet together with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States.

But the United States and Israel have resisted the idea of Russia hosting a Middle East conference, which Moscow hopes would bring together arch foes such as Iran and Israel. Although it is relatively close to Israel, Moscow was at the forefront of objections to Israel's offensive against Lebanon's pro-Syrian Hezbollah in July-August.

Russian weapons sales to Syria were also likely to be a theme, analysts said. In an interview Monday with the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara hinted that Syria would like to buy more Russian weapons systems -- a trade that has angered Israel and raised eyebrows in Washington.

Kommersant said Damascus is considering buying MiG-29SMT fighter jets from Russia as well as possibly Amur-1650 submarines, Yak-130 planes and additional Pantsir-C1 air defence systems. Kommersant said Russia was looking at possibly expanding a supply base in the Syrian port of Tartus used by the Russian navy and previously the Soviet navy, with a view to turning it into a fully-fledged base and foothold in the Mediterranean for Russia's navy.