Middle Orient

The United States said Thursday that comments by Iranian President Hassan Rowhani had opened up a possible new path for diplomacy, and urged Tehran to engage “substantively” with the West.

A Turkish delegation led by President Abdullah Gul has been preparing to leave for New York on Sept. 20 for next week’s UN General Assembly, which will provide an opportunity for Turkish diplomats to bring regional issues, particularly Syria, to the world’s agenda in a bid to stop the violence …

 Commenting on the capture of the northern Syrian town of Azaz by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said Turkey has repeatedly warned international powers that the unsolved Syrian crisis would breed instability and terrorism in the war-torn country.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected allegations that chemical weapons have been sent to neighboring Syria via Turkey, saying the charges are “impossible to take seriously.” “It is out of the question that we show the slightest tolerance for the use, possession and production of chemical weapons,” Foreign Ministry …

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept. 19 it was essential that a Russia-U.S. deal on eradicating Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal be enforced and that the U.N. Security Council must act on it next week. “The Security Council must be prepared to act next week,” Kerry told reporters. …

Syria has turned over materials to Russia which aim to show a chemical weapons attack last month was carried out by rebels, a top Russian diplomat visiting Damascus and a Syrian official said yesterday. The August 21 attack precipitated the current high tensions over Syria’s chemical weapons and sparked a …

The international community should provide more aid to help Lebanon allocate Syrian refugees, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday. “The international community must take its responsibility towards Lebanon, given that the latter has become the first hosting country,” Mikati said.

 Foreign Secretary William Hague and Arab League Secretary General Nabil El-Araby stressed late Wednesday that it was important to implement the US-Russian agreement in regards to the chemical weapons in Syria. A statement by the British Foreign Ministry said that Hague and El-Araby meeting also touched the Mideast peace process …

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad promised Wednesday he would surrender Syria’s chemical weapons but warned it would take at least a year to do so and cost one billion dollars. His latest appearance came as UN envoys debated

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the threat of military action should remain on the table to make Syria keep its promises on giving up chemical weapons. Speaking after he met British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Rasmussen welcomed the recent US-Russian agreement under which the …