Syria's president Bashar al-Assad has told Russian lawmakers he would be willing to partake in presidential elections.

Mr Assad told a meeting in Damascus that he is ready to stage a ballot if the Syrian people support the idea, Russian news agency RIA said.

"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.

President Assad has been voted into power in Syria twice - in 2000 and 2007. He ran unopposed in both elections.

He made a surprise visit to Moscow this week to discuss the continuation of Russian air stirkes in Syria with president Vladimir Putin.

At the talks, President Assad expressed "enormous" gratitude for the Kremlin's help and said its military intervention in his country had prevented a "tragic scenario".

It is the first known trip abroad taken by the Syrian president since his country's civil war began in 2011. More than 250,000 people are reported to have died since then.

Russia began carrying out air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria around a month ago.

A week after Russia launched its air strikes, Syrian ground troops, helped by allied fighters from Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, pushed their way into central and northern Syria to try to drive rebel and militant groups out.

So far, Syrian forces are reported to have seized some villages but have not yet had any strategic victory.

The US and Russia earlier this week signed an agreement to minimise the risk of incidents in Syrian airspace.

A US-led international coalition has been waging an intensive air campaign since autumn last year against IS and al Qaeda in Syria.

US defence officials say most of Moscow's air strikes have been targeting secular rebels in a bid to aid Kremlin ally President Assad.