Lavrov, Kerry to hold Syria talks Friday with Saudi, Turkish counterparts: Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on Friday in Vienna to discuss the Syrian conflict together with their counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Moscow said on Wednesday.

Russia's foreign ministry made the announcement after a phone call between Lavrov and Kerry and following the surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow on Tuesday.

According to statements issued to the press, Assad made the journey to thank Putin for his support and for launching air strikes over Syria. The trip is believed to be Assad's first foreign outing since the outbreak of the uprising against his rule in 2011, Reuters reported

Details of the visit were only announced on Wednesday, with Kremlin spokespeople saying that Assad has now returned home.

"First of all, I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria," Assad told Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript.

"If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area."

Putin, meanwhile, hailed the Syrian people for standing up to militants "almost on their own” and also said it was the Syrian people that should decide the fate of their country.

"At the end of the day a long-term settlement can be achieved on the basis of a political process with the participation of all political forces, ethnic and religious groups," AFP quoted Putin as saying. 

"And ultimately, the final word no doubt should rest solely with the Syrian people."

Russia began an aerial bombing campaign in Syria at the end of September, reportedly after Assad asked his long-term ally to intervene.

While Moscow insists that it is targeting the Islamic State militant group as well as al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate the Nusra Front, members of the US-led coalition has slammed Moscow for taking aim at what it says are other rebel positions, including US-backed opposition groups on the ground.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian air strikes have so far killed 370 people. Of this number, 127 have been civilians, including 36 children and 34 women, the watchdog said on Tuesday.