Moscow // The White House on Wednesday slammed Russia for its “red carpet” treatment of Bashar Al Assad as Moscow embarked on a diplomatic flurry after hosting the Syrian president on his first foreign visit since 2011.
Mr Al Assad met Vladimir Putin and thanked his Russian counterpart for launching air strikes against his opponents in Syria, with both leaders also agreeing during talks late Tuesday that political steps must follow military operations.
Moscow announced afterwards that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would meet Friday with US Secretary of State John Kerry and their Turkish and Saudi counterparts to discuss Syria.
“We view the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
The talks between Mr Putin and Mr Al Assad focused on military developments, with the Russian president pledging continuing support but also urging a political solution to end the war, the Kremlin said.
Mr Al Assad, who last visited Russia in 2008, had told Mr Putin that the three-week-old Russian air war — which has prompted an outcry in the West — had helped to stop the spread of “terrorism” in his country.
The strikes are reported to have killed 370 people so far, a third of them civilians.
Russia says the campaign targets ISIL and others it describes as “terrorists”. But Syrian rebels and the West accuse Moscow of seeking to prop up Mr Al Assad and of striking moderate opposition forces rather than just the extremists.
After the talks, Russia said Mr Lavrov would meet his US, Saudi and Turkish counterparts to discuss Syria in Vienna on Friday.
Mr Putin discussed his talks with Mr Assad in a string of phone conversations with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi King Salman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States are all key backers of the Syrian opposition and have criticised Moscow’s military intervention in support of Mr Al Assad’s regime.
They have also long insisted Mr Al Assad cannot be part of Syria’s future, though some experts see a softening of the international line on whether the embattled leader could stay on during a political transition.
French President Francois Hollande warned Russia against strengthening the position of Mr Al Assad, “who is the problem, and cannot therefore be the solution”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday at least 12 people including medical staff were killed when Russian warplanes struck a field hospital in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The clinic was run by the Syrian-American Medical Society, whose staff confirmed Tuesday’s strikes had “severely damaged” the facility.
Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Al Assad’s “working visit” was at the invitation of the Kremlin. The Syrian presidency said Wednesday that Mr Al Assad had returned to Damascus.
Russia’s foreign and defence ministers also participated in a meeting between the two leaders.
Mr Putin said Russia was ready to do all it could to help secure peace in Syria, which has been ravaged by the conflict that began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
More than 250,000 people have been killed and millions forced from their homes, sparking a mass migration of around four million refugees.
“We are ready to make our contribution not only during armed hostilities in the fight against terrorism but also during a political process,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Al Assad also stressed the importance of “further political steps” and praised Russia for its military and political efforts, the Kremlin said.
“I need to say that the political steps which Russia has taken since the start of the crisis prevented the events in Syria from developing along a more tragic scenario,” he said.
Mr Putin emphasised that Syrians should decide their country’s fate, a thinly veiled jab at the United States and other opposition backers who insist Mr Al Assad must go in any peaceful settlement.
“Based on positive results in military operations at the end of the day a long-term settlement can be achieved on the basis of a political process with the participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups,” he said.
Russia has carried out more than 500 air raids in Syria since its campaign began last month.
The strikes have killed 370 people, including over 120 civilians, says the Britain-based Observatory.
The Russian defence ministry said Wednesday its forces had hit 83 targets in Syria in the past 24 hours.
The strikes have been accompanied by a series of Syrian government ground offensives, in some places reportedly backed by an influx of Iranian forces, as well as Hizbollah militiamen
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday that about 35,000 people had been displaced by one of the offensives, south of Syria’s second city Aleppo.
*Agence France-Presse