Putin meets with Syria's Bashar al-Assad during rare visit to Damascus

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Damascus on Tuesday to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to the Kremlin, Putin declared "with confidence that a huge distance has been traveled toward restoring Syrian statehood and the country's territorial integrity."

It's been almost nine years since civil war broke out in Syria. Putin and Assad are allies, and in 2015, when Assad's troops were struggling to fight opposition forces, Moscow intervened, sending military advisers and launching airstrikes. This was a major turning point, and the Syrian government has since been able to recapture most of the territory it lost.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told several Russian news agencies that Putin "noted that on the streets of Damascus, the signs of how peace has been restored can be seen with the naked eye."

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Putin's visit occurred before Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. The attacks were in response to an airstrike authorized by President Trump that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Iran, Syria, and Russia are all allies.