Putin says Syria’s Assad ready to work with rebels

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State, Reuters reports.

Speaking a day after Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin -- underlining Moscow's new role as a central player in Syria's conflict -- Putin said the two men had talked about the need for a political solution.

Putin said he believed that the military operation in Syria could create the right conditions for progress in talks on the future of the country.

"I will pull open the curtain a little on my talks with President Assad," Putin said at a forum in the Russian resort of Sochi on Thursday, October 22 evening.

"I asked him: 'What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State? What would be your view if we were to support their efforts in fighting Islamic State in the same way we are supporting the Syrian army'," Putin said.

"He answered: 'I would view that positively'," Putin said of Assad.

The Russian president went on: "We are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements." Putin also said that, at the root of the Syrian conflict was not just Islamist militancy but also internal tensions -- a recognition that at least some of the people who rebelled against Assad's rule had a legitimate grievance.