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Iranian Foreign Minister Meets With Assad

Greg Asciutto |
September 19, 2012 | 8:23 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Protesters gather under the Syrian independence flag in Idlib (Creative Commons)
Protesters gather under the Syrian independence flag in Idlib (Creative Commons)
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday to discuss solutions to end the country's 18-month civil war.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, Assad held his position that Syria will not accept foreign intervention, stressing that the international community needs to honor the nation's sovereignty.

Salehi agreed, stating that the solution to obtain peace lies "only in Syria and within the Syrian family," of which more than 20,000 members have already perished.

The meeting occured hours after the human rights organization Amnesty International published a report on the civilian casualties caused by indiscriminate attacks in the Idlib and north Hama regions.

"Battlefield weapons and munitions – unguided bombs dropped from the air and imprecise artillery shells and mortars which have a wide impact radius and cannot be aimed at specific targets – are now being used daily against residential areas," the report read.

"Every day civilians are killed or injured in their homes, in the street, while running for cover or trying to shelter from the bombings. Hundreds have been killed or injured in recent weeks, many of them children, in indiscriminate attacks."

Amnesty International called for involvement by the UN Security Council, pushing for the prosecution of Syrian war criminals under international law.

Syrian rebels captured a major post on the Turkish border, Tal Abyad, on Wednesday as well.

According to The Washington Post, such border captures are crucial to the rebel forces for the importation of suppiles.

 

Reach Staff Reporter Greg Asciutto here. Follow him on Twitter.



 

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