Bashar al-Assad says he’s ready to take part in elections if the Syrian people support the idea.

Reuters/Moscow

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Russian lawmakers in Damascus on Sunday that he was ready to take part in presidential elections if the Syrian people support the idea, RIA news agency reported, citing a lawmaker at the meeting.

Interfax news agency cited the same lawmaker as saying Assad had also expressed a willingness to discuss amendments to Syria's constitution and hold parliamentary elections.

Moscow is a key foreign ally for Assad, and Russia's foreign minister said in comments aired on Russian TV on Saturday that the Kremlin wanted Syria to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections.

RIA said Assad held the meeting with Russian lawmakers at his residence in Damascus on Sunday morning. State-run Syrian media reported that Assad was meeting a Russian delegation but made no mention of what he had told them.

"Assad said that if the Syrian people consider it necessary, he would not be against taking part in presidential elections," RIA quoted lawmaker Alexander Yushchenko as saying.

Dmitry Sablin, another lawmaker in the Russian delegation, told TASS news agency that Assad had said the effectiveness of Russia's military operation in Syria had exceeded expectations.

US, Saudi to bolster support for moderate Syrian opposition

The US and Saudi Arabia agreed to increase support to Syria's moderate opposition while seeking a political resolution of the four-year conflict, the US State Department said after Secretary of State John Kerry met King Salman on Saturday.

Kerry was in Riyadh for meetings with the Saudi monarch, crown prince, deputy crown prince and foreign minister - the last stop in a trip that also included Vienna, where he met counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia.

"They pledged to continue and intensify support to the moderate Syrian opposition while the political track is being pursued," the State Department statement said after Kerry's meetings in Saudi Arabia. It did not spell out what kind of support would be offered.

Rebels have appealed for more military support from foreign backers, including Saudi Arabia, to confront major Syrian army offensives. Those offensives are backed by Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian fighters and Russian air strikes.

The US and Saudi Arabia, together with other states opposed to Assad, already provides some military support to Syrian rebels. That includes training by the Central Intelligence Agency and anti-tank missiles.