Iranian Military Chief in Russia

Chairman of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri on Monday traveled to Sochi, Russia, to participate in a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts over the conflict in Syria. Baqeri was to meet Turkish Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar and Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Vasilyevich. According to Fars News Agency, the three sides were to discuss trilateral defensive cooperation regarding the course of action to fight terrorist groups in Syria. The discussions follow talks convened by the foreign ministers of the three countries in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on Sunday to explore ways of ending the foreign-backed militancy in the Arab country. The three countries are guarantors of the Syria peace process, an initiative brokered in the Kazakh capital Astana, which has sharply reduced hostilities across the country. The discussions come in the runup to a tripartite summit on the Syria crisis in the Black Sea resort of Sochi scheduled for Nov. 22, which Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents, Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan respectively, are expected to attend.