Shamkhani arrived in the Russian capital on Monday to meet with senior Russian officials and exchange views about the latest efforts to resolve the more than five-year-old conflict in Syria.

The visit comes after defense ministers of Iran, Russia and Syria held a trilateral meeting in Tehran on June 10 and discussed regional developments and agreed to step up cooperation in their fight against Takfiri terror groups wreaking havoc across the Syrian soil and elsewhere in the region.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan had officially invited his Russian and Syrian counterparts, Sergey Kuzhugetovich Shoygu and Fahd Jasim al-Furayj, to visit Tehran for the trilateral meeting.

Iran and Russia, known as the main allies of Syria, have been looking for a solution to a crisis that has plagued the Arab country for years.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including ISIS, currently controlling parts of it.

According to a new report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders, Press TV reported.

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