On the 12-year anniversary of Syria’s civil #war, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad visited #Moscow and held talks with Russian President Vladimir #Putin. The talks were expected to focus on rebuilding #Syria and mending Damascus’s relations with Turkey. Assad thanked Putin for backing Syria’s territorial integrity. Russia had launched a military campaign in Syria in September 2015 and helped the Assad government gain back most of Syria’s territory from armed opposition groups. Assad also offered Putin his support in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.