The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan, which quotes the Russian daily Vedomosti, indicated on Tuesday that the two presidents should discuss this Wednesday in particular “normalization between Damascus and Ankara”, in which Russia plays the role of mediator. The newspaper, citing the same source, estimates that “current developments regarding Syrian-Arab relations” should also be addressed.
Syria is one of the few countries to explicitly support Russia in its offensive in Ukraine. “We are convinced that the Russian Federation not only defends itself, but also defends justice and the rights of humanity, the rights of everyone to reject unipolar hegemony”, declared last September the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the UN platform. Only a few days after the start of the invasion at the end of February, the Minister of Defense had notably proposed the deployment of Syrian fighters in Ukraine alongside Russian forces.
For good reason, Russia has provided considerable military support to the Syrian regime since the fall of 2015, supporting its forces against those of the opposition and those of the jihadists, de facto saving the power of Bashar al-Assad who now controls most of Syria.