Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that much of the fighting in the country’s civil war would be over by the end of the year.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that much of the fighting in the country's civil war would be over by the end of the year, a former Russian prime minister who recently met Assad quoted him as saying.

Sergey Stepashin, who served as prime minister in 1999 under then-President Boris Yeltsin and now heads a charitable organization, met Assad in Damascus last week during a visit to the Middle East, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday.

"To my question about how military issues were going, this is what Assad said: 'This year the active phase of military action in Syria will be ended. After that we will have to shift to what we have been doing all the time - fighting terrorists'," Stepashin said according to the Russian news agency.

Stepashin stated he had also discussed with Assad the economic cooperation between Syria and Russia.

Russia joined the United States in organizing peace talks that began in January in Geneva between the Syrian government and its foes. But no agreement was reached and it appears unlikely a new round will start anytime soon, in part because of high tension between Russia and the West over Ukraine.

President Assad has driven gunmen back from around Damascus and secured most of central Syria, along with regaining control over most of the country's large areas.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said in an interview published on Monday that Assad would stand for re-election this year and that he no longer faced a threat of being overthrown.