DAMASCUS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that the efforts in the current stage should be focused on bringing the Turkish assault in northern Syria to a halt, according to the state news agency SANA.
Assad said the Turkish and U.S. forces and other forces on Syrian soil must pull out from the country as these forces are regarded as forces of occupation according to the international law.
The Syrian people have the right to counter the foreign occupation forces by all means possible, Assad said during his meeting with the visiting Russian President's Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiyev and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin in the capital Damascus.
For their side, the Russian officials echoed their country's stance in support of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On Oct. 9, Turkey and Syrian rebel groups started an assault to eliminate Kurdish forces in northern Syria in order to end what Turkey perceives as the threat of "terrorist and separatist" groups on its southern border and to impose a safe zone to host millions of Syrian refugees.
According to SANA, the meeting also discussed the underway preparations for holding the first meeting of the recently-formed constitutional committee, which will be tasked with revising the Syrian constitution.
Assad and Lavrentiyev expressed satisfaction with the progress of these preparations, said SANA.
Both sides also stressed that the most important factor for the success of the committee is the non-foreign interference in its work.
Lavrentiyev also briefed Assad on the outcome of the recent visits of Russian President Putin to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to SANA.
