President Bashar al-Assad visited Moscow on Tuesday and met with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

President Bashar al-Assad visited Moscow on Tuesday and met with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Syrian presidency said on Wednesday.

“President Bashar al-Assad met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in the Russian capital Moscow,” official news agency, SANA, quoted the Syrian presidency as saying.

Both presidents discussed continuing the military operations against terrorism in Syria, the Syrian agency said, noting that the visit came upon an invitation by the Russian strongman.

The Kremlin also reported the visit, saying that Putin pledged to continue to support Damascus militarily, while calling for a political solution involving all groups to try to end the war.

"We are ready to make our contribution not only during armed hostilities in the fight against terrorism but also during a political process," Putin told Assad, AFP reported.

For his part, Assad told Putin that the Russian air bombardments launched on September 30 -- which have caused concern in the West -- had helped stop the spread of "terrorism" in his country, the Kremlin added.

The Syrian leader stressed the importance of "further political steps," AFP quoted the Kremlin statement as saying.

"I need to say that the political steps which Russia has taken since the start of the crisis prevented the events in Syria from developing along a more tragic scenario," Assad said.

Terrorism which has now spread through the region would have consumed much larger areas and would have spread throughout much more territory if it were not for your actions and your decisions," he said in comments translated into Russian.