Russia’s Putin hosts Syria’s Assad in the Kremlin as tensions rise in the Middle East

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Kremlin. The Kremlin press service says the meeting took place on Wednesday. Putin and Assad last met in March 2023 in the Kremlin on the anniversary of Syria’s 12-year uprising-turned-civil war. At that meeting, Putin emphasized the Russian military’s role in stabilizing the country. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. Russia now concentrates most of its forces in Ukraine but maintains a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.