Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken steps to withdraw the ‘main part’ of his forces in Syria claiming that their intervention had largely achieved its goals.
This comes with the fresh peace talks in Geneva, where officials concerned are discussing to resolve the Syrian conflict that has being going on for five years.
Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose office said in a statement he had agreed to the move, media reports.
The pullout was "in accordance with the situation on the ground", the statement said.