Top Russian general discusses Syria with Turkish counterpart
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- The chief of the Russian army's general staff, Valery Gerasimov, met his Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Thursday for talks on military cooperation and Syria, Turkish officials said, reflecting a warming of ties in the past few weeks.
Russia and Turkey have backed opposing sides in Syria, with Moscow supporting President Bashar al-Assad while Ankara backs rebels fighting to oust him. Relations hit a low last November, when Turkey downed a Russian war plane near the Syrian border.
But ties between Moscow and Ankara were largely restored last month. A Syrian ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and Russia could meanwhile change the dynamics of the conflict, raising the prospect of joint military targeting of banned Islamist groups by the former Cold War foes.
