Syria deal may be on agenda for Putin-Trump Asia meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump may discuss a Syria settlement at an Asian economic summit in Vietnam next week, the RIA news agency reported on Saturday.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have soured further since Putin and Trump first met at a G-20 summit in Hamburg in July when they discussed allegations of Russian meddling in the US election, but agreed to focus on better ties.
Tensions have risen over the conflict in Syria after Russia vetoed a UN plan to continue an ongoing investigation into chemical weapons.
A Syria settlement “is being discussed” for the agenda of a possible meeting between the two presidents, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA, adding it was in their common interest to have enough time to discuss the issue.
“Somehow or another it requires cooperation,” Peskov said.
Trump told Fox News this week that it was possible he would meet Putin during his Asia trip. “We may have a meeting with Putin,” he said.
“And, again — Putin is very important because they can help us with North Korea. They can help us with Syria. We have to talk about Ukraine.”
Russian airstrikes
Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers struck Daesh targets near the town of Bu Kamal in Syria on Saturday, RIA news agency reported, citing Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Command centers and weapon depots were among the targets hit by the bombers, which flew over Iran and Iraq.
The Syrian regime and allied forces converged Saturday on holdout Daesh fighters in the Syrian border town of Bu Kamal, the terrorists’ very last urban bastion following a string of losses.
On Friday, Russian-backed Syrian regime forces took full control of Deir Ezzor, which was the last city where Daesh still had a presence after being expelled from Hawija and Raqqa last month.
The regime forces, backed by intensive Russian airstrikes, are advancing on Bu Kamal from an oil pumping station in the desert west of the town.
Kurdish-led US-backed fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were making fresh gains further north in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian forces entered Deir Ezzor city in September, breaking a Daesh siege of nearly three years on government-held parts of the provincial capital.
Before Syria’s war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests, around 300,000 people lived in the city, the capital of Deir Ezzor province along Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.
But in 2014, Daesh terrorists seized the city and much of the surrounding province, including vital oil and gas fields that once served as a key source of revenue for the extremists.

Source: arabnews