Tests on Syrian casualties arriving in Turkey indicated that chemical weapons had been used by Syrian forces, and further tests were being undertaken to verify the evidence, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
"We have been making tests and we have some indications regarding chemical weapons being used, but in order to make sure and verify we are continuing these tests and will be sharing these tests with UN agencies," Davutoglu said in remarks in Amman.
This comes as Iran welcomed the U.S.-Russian proposal for an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria and hopes it will be held in Geneva, Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran would be more than happy and pleased to assist in whatever way that it can, and we expect to be part of the process to restore peace and a better livelihood to the people of Syria," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said that Russia has no plans to sell Syria an advanced air defense
system, denying media reports that it planned such a sale.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted Minister
Lavrov as saying Russia would be fulfilling contracts it has already concluded
with Damascus but that this did not include sales of the S-300 system.
Meanwhile, British
Prime Minister David Cameron arrived on Friday in Russia's Black Sea
resort city of Sochi to discuss with the Russian President Valdimir
Putin the Syrian file.
On another note, the Philippine foreign
secretary said that he has recommended President Benigno Aquino III pull
out all Filipino U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights following the
abduction of four by Syrian rebels, the second such incident in two
months.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the government
believes the exposure of the country's 342 peacekeepers "is beyond
tolerable limits."
Aquino will have the final say in the matter. It is not clear when the decision will be made.
"We
have sent a recommendation to the president and as soon as he says go,
we will undertake to do that as soon as possible," del Rosario told
reporters.
A video emerged online Thursday that purportedly shows
the abducted peacekeepers, who appeared unhurt.
A bearded man, believed
to be with a group called the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, read out a
statement saying the peacekeepers had been moved to another location for
their own safety as fighting raged between Syrian government troops and
rebels.
The statement did not specify where the peacekeepers were being held, nor conditions for their release.
Syrian
rebels seized the four peacekeepers along the U.N.-patrolled
demarcation line separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria
on Tuesday, only two months after 21 Filipino peacekeepers were
abducted and held for three days by the rebels in the same area.
Nearly
1,000 U.N. peacekeepers are patrolling the Golan Heights, which Israel
seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. Other major contributors are
India and Austria. Croatia has recently withdrawn its contingent.
REUTERS/AP/LBCI
To watch the full report, please click on the video above.