The United States said on Friday it respected a decision by Albania not to host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and that it was confident of eliminating the nerve agents within a timeframe agreed with Russia.
"The United States will continue to work with Allies and partners as well as the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) and the United Nations to ensure the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program," the U.S. embassy in Tirana said in a statement.
Albania has turned down a U.S. request to host the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons, the NATO country's prime minister said in a televised statement.
"It is impossible for Albania to get involved in this operation," Edi Rama said.
On another note, the Interfax news agency reported that a Syrian government delegation will meet officials in Moscow on Monday to discuss preparations for an international peace conference that Russia, the United States and the United Nations are trying to convene.
The Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment. Interfax cited a Russian Foreign Ministry source for the report.
Russia and the United States announced plans for a conference in May which would bring together representatives of the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva. No date has yet been set.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition agreed on Monday to attend the conference but said there could be no role for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's future.
Russia says Assad's exit from power cannot be a precondition for the talks aimed at ending the civil war, which has killed more than 100,000 people.
President Vladimir Putin praised Assad's readiness to send a delegation to the conference when he spoke to the Syrian leader by telephone on Thursday in what Putin's spokesman said was their first conversation in at least two years.
Putin has said Russia has no special relationship with Syria, which buys weapons from Moscow and hosts its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union. Russia has also accused Assad of mishandling peaceful protests in 2011 and failing to avert the slide into civil war.
North Korea denies aid to Syria
North Korea denied it was sending military aid to the Syrian government, one of its few close allies, in its battle against rebel forces after media reports said that Pyongyang had sent advisers and helicopter pilots.
"Some foreign media are floating misinformation that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) supplied war equipment to Syria, its airmen are directly involved in air-raids on insurgent troops in Syria," the North's state run KCNA news agency said late on Thursday.
The Jerusalem Post reported in October that 15 North Korean helicopter pilots were operating in Syria "on behalf of President Bashar Assad's regime" and said the report had been confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Other reports have identified North Korean artillery officers as being in Syria, although they were said not to be directing fire.
On the field:
A Syrian rebel commander in a main Islamist brigade was killed and two others were injured in an air strike by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on Aleppo, activists said on Friday, in a setback to rebels defending the city against a loyalist attack.
Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and most populous city before the uprising against Assad erupted in 2011, has been witnessing heavy fighting since Assad's forces, backed by forces from Iraq and the Lebanon’s Hezbollah, launched an offensive two weeks ago to retake rebel-held areas in the city.
The opposition Aleppo News Network said in a statement that the raid on Thursday targeted an army base that rebels had captured, killing commander Youssef al-Abbas of the Qatari-backed al-Tawhid Brigades, one of the biggest armed opposition groups.
Abbas was known by the nom de guerre Abu al-Tayyeb.
Tawhid's leadership was holding a meeting in the base when the raid occurred, the statement said.
It said Tawhid's head, Abdelqader Saleh, was injured and taken to a hospital in Turkey, 45 kms (28 miles) to the north, along with Abdelaziz al-Salameh, another top commander. Both were in good condition, the statement said.
The report could not be independently confirmed.
Video footage taken by activists showed the body of Abu al-Tayyeb after being transported to his hometown of Mareh in the countryside north of Aleppo. His father was shown kissing the body and crying.
REUTERS