Putin and Saudi defence minister agree to co-operate in Syria

Russian president Vladimir Putin met Saudi Arabia’s defence minister on Sunday, in Moscow’s biggest attempt to reach out to enemies of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad since Russia joined the conflict with air strikes.

After the meeting between Putin and Sheikh Mohammed bin Salman, a son of the Saudi king, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said both countries were willing to co-operate in Syria and wanted to prevent the formation of a “terrorist caliphate”.

Rebel groups

“On both sides . . . there is an understanding that today’s meeting can advance our cooperation,” Mr Lavrov said.

Russia’s intervention in Syria has infuriated Mr al-Assad’s regional foes, including Saudi Arabia, who say Russian air strikes have hit rebel groups opposed to Mr al-Assad, and not just the Islamic State fighters Moscow says it is targeting. Mr Lavrov acknowledged Saudi Arabia had “concerns” about Russia’s aims but said it was targeting only extremists, including Islamic State and Jabhat al Nusra, a group linked to al-Qaeda. The Russian air strikes derailed a tentative detente between the two countries earlier this year, which aimed to smooth tensions over Syria and relations with Riyadh’s regional rival Iran.

“We expressed our concerns that these operations could be regarded as an alliance between Iran and Russia,” said Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir. “But in the conversation, our Russian friends explained to us that the main aim is the fight with ISIS and terrorism,” he added (using an acronym for Islamic State).

Meanwhile, eight senior figures from Islamic State were killed in an air strike while meeting in a town in west Iraq, but the group’s reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them, residents of the town and hospital sources said.

Survived strikes

Iraq said its air force had hit the meeting and had also struck a convoy carrying Mr al-Baghdadi to attend it. It said he had been driven away from the convoy in an unknown condition.

The Iraq military’s announcement was the latest unconfirmed report of the possible death or injury of Mr al-Baghdadi, who has survived a year of US-led air strikes and multi-sided wars in two countries since proclaiming himself caliph of all Muslims after his forces swept through most of northern Iraq last year. – (Reuters)