Zarif to visit Moscow for Syria meeting

Tehran April 12 (IANS) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Moscow on Friday for a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Syrian counterparts an official said.

According to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi the meeting will take place following the recent use of chemical weapons in Syria and against a backdrop of the subsequent US attack on a Syrian airbase Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu also held talks on the latest developments in Syria.

In a telephone conversation on Tuesday the two sides underscored the need to continue joint efforts in the campaign against terrorism and other sources of insecurity in the region.

Syria has been gripped by a civil war since March 2011.

According to a report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research the conflict has claimed over 470 000 lives injured 1.9 million people and displaced nearly half of the country s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

--IANS
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