The Syrian Army controls Hama-Aleppo airport road

The Syrian army controlled a road extending from the central province of Hama till Aleppo International Airport which was being bombed by the rebels since more than two weeks.               

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that dozens of soldiers and armed opposition members died during fierce clashes in al-Raqqa, North Syria.
                                 
The Observatory added in a report that violent confrontations are taking place between combat battalions and regime forces.           


POSITIONS:       

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday that some countries are calling for President Bashar Assad’s step down, but this is considered as an intervention in the Syrian internal issues.        

Salehi added that the Syrian people are the ones to decide their fate and stressed that foreign countries should stop supporting the opposition in order to maintain the Syrian stability.         

For his part, the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem said From Tehran that joint efforts to stop violence begin by exerting pressure on Turkey, Qatar, and any other country supporting terrorist groups and supplying them with arms.   

Mouallem also condemned the US move to give non-lethal aid to rebels who are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, and accused Washington of “double standards”.

           
This as, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama have told their foreign ministers to keep in close touch and seek "new initiatives" to end Syria's civil war, the Kremlin said after a telephone conversation between the two leaders.   

The Kremlin said Putin and Obama also pledged to avoid steps that would harm Russian-U.S. relations, which have been strained by differences over Syria and other issues including Putin's treatment of opponents since he began a new term as president last May.


REUTERS/LBCI