DHAKA: Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has visited Moscow on his first overseas trip since the civil war broke out in his country in 2011.

During the surprise visit, he held talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Russia launched air strikes in Syria last month against the so-called Islamic State (IS) and other militant groups battling Assad’s forces.

Assad said Russia’s involvement had stopped ‘terrorism’ becoming ‘more widespread and harmful’ in Syria, reports the BBC.

For his part, Putin said Moscow’s hope, in providing a ‘positive dynamic in the fighting’, was that a ‘long term resolution can be achieved on the basis of a political process with the participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups’.

The visit happened on Tuesday evening, but was not announced until Wednesday - after Assad had returned to Damascus.

BDST: 1807 HRS, OCT 21, 2015
RR