Surprise Syria Visit Putin Orders Russian Military to Withdraw.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to withdraw from Syria during a surprise visit to a Russian airbase in the country on Monday morning, where he was greeted by Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Defense Ministry said last week that the embattled country had been completely liberated of Islamic State (IS) militants, two years after Russia entered the war in support of Assad's regime. Russia this month also said that the war was drawing to a close — a claim the United States and opposition groups dispute.

“I order the Defense Minister and the Chief of General Staff to proceed to withdraw Russian forces back to their points of permanent deployment,” Putin was cited by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency as saying at the Khmeimim airbase.

If IS “raise their heads again,” the president added, “we will strike them with a force that they have never previously seen.”

Putin made the surprise visit en route to a planned visit to Cairo and Ankara for talks with the Egyptian and Turkish presidents.

The Islamic State is a terrorist group banned in Russia.