Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad arrive for their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow
Russia’s military intervention in Syria has deepened the sense that President Bashar Assad may survive the country’s disastrous civil war, and his surprise visit to Moscow — a first foray out in nearly five years — underscores how emboldened the Syrian leader has become.
The show of force by the two allies is a challenge to a U.S. administration whose response on Syria is widely seen in the region as inconsistent and chaotic.
Whether it is also part of a quiet Russian push to engineer a political transition in Syria on President Vladimir Putin’s terms is yet to be seen. Such a scenario would do wonders for the Russian leader’s evident ambition to seize center stage in world affairs.
Hours after Assad’s visit was announced Wednesday, Russia confirmed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had agreed to meet in Vienna today with their Turkish and Saudi counterparts to discuss the Syrian conflict.
Either way, the visit shows remarkable resilience that Assad was able to leave Syria without fear of a coup or arrest after presiding over a rare descent into hell: Half the country’s population has been displaced, at least a quarter million people have been killed and Islamic State militants are in control of large swaths of territory.
Even as vast parts of his country fell from his control or turned into killing fields, Assad has kept his regime core in place and continues to hang on to strategic territory that remains firmly under his rule.
The fact that Assad has survived the war is largely due to powerful allies Iran and Russia, which have used political, financial and military means to shore up his forces. Their unswerving support is in sharp contrast to the muddled response by the U.S. administration, and has injected a self-assurance that Assad would not be allowed to fall like other Arab dictators who were either imprisoned or killed.
Assad flashed wide smiles as he shook hands with Putin and other officials in Moscow on Tuesday. “We thank you for standing by Syria’s territorial integrity and its independence,” Assad told Putin.
Russia has consistently used its veto power at the U.N. Security Council to shield Assad and last month began airstrikes in Syria following significant territorial losses by government forces to the rebels. Zeina Karam, Beirut, AP
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