MOSCOW – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Russian leader VladimirPutin’s summer residence on the Black Sea for talks on Thursday about theSyrian conflict, the Kremlin said, a visit that underscored Moscow’s statusas Assad’s chief backer.

Since fighting broke out in his country in 2011, Assad has traveled onlyrarely, but has made three publicly-acknowledged visits to Russia, eachtime for meetings with Putin.

Russia’s entry into the conflict in 2015 turned the tide of the conflict inAssad’s favor, and established Russia as a powerbroker in the Middle East.

At the meeting, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Assad congratulated Putinon his new term as president, after he was re-elected in March, and thankedthe Russian military for its support in Syria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting, which had not beenannounced in advance, took place on Thursday.

“Stability is improving, and all that opens the doors to the politicalprocess, which we started a while ago,” Assad told Putin, according to atranscript of the opening remarks from the meeting posted on the Kremlinwebsite.