Russia's Vladimir Putin and Syria's Bashar Assad have held talks in Moscow on the cooperation between their armies and how to continue operations to gain control of rebel-held areas in Syria, state media in Damascus reported on Tuesday.
The meeting between the two presidents was the first since they held a summit in the Syrian capital in January last year.
Syrian state TV described it as a long meeting but did not specify when it took place. The TV said the two were later joined by Syria's foreign minister and Russia's defence minister to discuss mutual relations and fighting terrorism.
Putin and Assad also discussed the political process in the war-torn country, the TV said.
Russia has joined the 10-year conflict of Syria in September 2015, reverse the balance of power in favour of Assad, whose forces control a large part of the country. Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed throughout Syria and also have a military airbase along the Mediterranean coast of Syria.
"I'm happy to meet you in Moscow, six years after our joint operations to fight terrorism," said Syrian TV Cité Assad.
In recent weeks, the Syrian opposition activists stated that Russian aircraft have shot strikes in the Northwestern Province of Idlib than the last rebel fortress in the country.