Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia will continue supporting the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism and will continue its support

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia will continue supporting the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism and will continue its support.

Speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, Putin said: “We give technical-military support to Damascus and will continue doing it,” he said. “And we call on other countries to join us in this.”

Both Bashar Assad’s government and the opposition forces should unite to battle the terrorists, Putin stressed.

"Now we have to unite the efforts of the Syrian government and the Kurdish self-defense forces and the so-called moderate opposition, and other countries in the [Middle East] region to fight the threat to Syria’s statehood and terrorism," Putin said, according to Russia Today.

"Russia, as you know, has proposed to form a wide coalition to fight extremists without any delay. It [the coalition] should unite everyone who is ready and is already contributing to tackling terrorism,” he added.

The Russian president mentioned that the ISIL militants’ influence is also spreading in another war-torn country in the region - Afghanistan.

Islamic State has designs on the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and endangers Europe and Russia, Vladimir Putin said.

The situation is very serious, Putin said, adding that Moscow is very worried that ISIL terrorists are publicly announcing their designs on Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The terrorists also plan to spread their activities to Europe, Russia, central and southeastern Asia.

"Extremists from many countries of the world, including, unfortunately, European counties, Russia and the  Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) undertake ideological and military training in the ranks of Islamic State [IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL]," said Putin.

Putin said it’s necessary for geopolitical ambitions to be set aside in the fight against ISIL terrorists.

"Simple common sense, responsibility for global and regional safety require uniting efforts of the international community [to fight] such a threat. It is necessary to set aside geopolitical ambitions, drop so-called double standards, the policy of direct or indirect use of separate terrorist groups for achieving own goals, including removing the governments and regimes."