DAMASCUS, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday discussed in a phone call the agreement between Russia and Turkey regarding the situation in northern Syria.
Putin and Assad underlined the need to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of Syria, according to the Syrian presidency media office.
Putin also noted that any deal between Russia and Turkey will focus on countering all shapes of terrorism and separatism on Syrian soil.
For his side, Assad completely rejected any invasion of Syrian territory under any name or pretext.
The phone call came as Russia and Turkey adopted a joint memorandum of understanding on the situation in Syria after the talks between Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi earlier Tuesday.
According to the memorandum, Moscow and Ankara agreed to deploy Russian and Syrian forces in the zone of the Turkish operation in Syria starting from Wednesday.
Erdogan hailed the deal as "a historic agreement" while speaking to reporters with Putin.
The Turkish-Russian deal came just two hours ahead of the end of the 5-day cease-fire that Turkey agreed to observe on Thursday following a deal with the United States, which is backing the Kurdish militia in Syria.
Turkey and its allied Syrian rebels have launched a military incursion against the Kurdish militia in northern Syria since Oct. 9.
In response, the Kurdish forces reached a deal with the government forces for the latter to be deployed in some Kurdish-held border areas to counter the Turkish attack.
