Middle Orient News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French President Francois Hollande, who held a meeting hours before the G-20 summit talks on the global economy in St. Petersburg started, agreed that President Bashar al-Assad’s recent chemical weapons attack in Damascus suburb should not go unpunished.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that whatever action is required in Syria should be under the UN framework, amid growing pressure on US President Barack Obama from his Russian counterpart and other world leaders not to attack the Arab country.

US President Barack Obama arrived in Russia’s Saint Petersburg for the G20 summit, where officials said he will argue his case for military action against the Syrian regime over an alleged chemical weapons attack.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem will visit Moscow on September 9 to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday with reference to Russian Foreign Ministry.

Three Russian warships crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to the eastern Mediterranean, near the Syrian coast, amid concern in the region over potential US-led strikes in response to the Damascus regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Syria with British Prime Minister David Cameron early on Friday, Putin’s spokesman said. Cameron and Putin met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg

G20 leaders remain divided over the Syrian conflict as they enter the final day of their Russian summit. The splits were confirmed by both Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and US envoy to the United Nations Samantha Power.

US President Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin were Thursday set to argue out their differences on the Syria crisis over dinner at the G20 in Russia as world leaders sought to overcome a deep chasm over a US-led push for military action.

Turkish army deployed additional troops and weapons along the Syrian border on Wednesday amid fears of a potential military intervention led by the United States. Reinforcements from Turkey’s military command in Gaziantep province

The number of the Syrians forced to leave their native country and seek shelter in refugee camps in Turkey has exceeded 200,000 people. Taking into account the people living outside these camps the figure is over half a million.