© Valery SHARIFULIN/ AFPRussia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 24, 2024. TV The meeting late Wednesday comes at a time when Russia, which saved Assad's government through its military intervention in 2015 during a civil war, could mediate to defuse tensions between Syria and Turkey.
The meeting late Wednesday comes at a time when Russia, which saved Assad's government through its military intervention in 2015 during a civil war, could mediate to defuse tensions between Syria and Turkey.
The first meeting of the two men since March last year comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan evoked the possibility of the three leaders meeting to try and normalise ties between Ankara and Damascus.
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"Now we have come to such a point that as soon as Bashar al-Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkey, we will show him the same approach," Erdogan said.
Turkey originally aimed to topple Assad's regime when the Syrian conflict erupted with the violent suppression of peaceful protesters in 2011 and backed rebels calling for his ouster.
But more recently, Ankara has shifted focus to preventing what Erdogan in 2019 dubbed a "terror corridor" from opening up in northern Syria.
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Erdogan has long said he could reconsider ties with Assad as his government is working to ensure safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees.
Turkey has launched a string of offensives in Syria since 2016 targeting Kurdish militias, Islamic State group jihadists and forces loyal to Assad.
Pro-Turkish forces in Syria now control two vast strips of territory along the border.
Comment: It's perhaps no coincidence that this meeting follows a few other notable developments between the multinodal powerhouses and states in the Middle East (linked below); and not least following Putin's warning that Russia would consider arming friendly, allied governments, in response to the US' arming of a myriad of regions.
This also occurs amidst Netanyahu's visit to the US; Israel's relentless genocide in Gaza, and its attacks on Syria, Lebanon, and Iran; as well as alongside the Kiev-junta fast losing the West's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Taken together, it appears that whilst these meetings are laying groundwork for the future, the multinodal world may also be preempting the possibility that the West-Israel will choose to escalate their world war schemes: