Russian foreign minister meets Syrian defector

(AP) Russian foreign minister meets Syrian defector
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press
BEIRUT
Russia’s foreign minister says he has met with a top Syrian defector in Jordan in a rare, high-level contact between the Moscow government and a Syrian opposition figure.

Russia is one of the strongest international supporters of President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday he met Riad Hijab, the former Syrian prime minister who defected to Jordan in August. He said he wanted to get firsthand information from the Syrian opposition on how they view a solution to the civil war.