Damascus, Oct 30 (IANS): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad discussedholding of a conference on refugees' return with a visiting Russian delegation, according to the presidential media office.

In capital Damascus, Assad on Thursday discussed the conference with the delegation headed by Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for Syria, reports Xinhua news agency.

During the meeting, Assad and his Russian guests discussed the efforts exerted to convene the refugee conference scheduled to take place in Damascus next month.

The conference is hoped to achieve positive results that could "alleviate the suffering of the Syrian refugees abroad and open the way for them to return to Syria and live a normal life", according to the office.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011, seeking safety in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond.

Currently, there were 13.1 million people in need in Syria; 6.6 million internally displaced persons; and 2.98 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, the UNHCR figures have revealed.

Turkey hosts the largest number of registered Syrian refugees at 3.6 million.