Iranian, Turkish foreign ministers talk Syria

TEHRAN, Aug. 5 (MNA) – Foreign ministers of Iran and Turkey held a telephone conversation on Saturday night over the latest developments in Syria, the press office of the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday. Heavy fighting continues unabated in Syria's second city Aleppo. Military sources say around 20,000 troops are massed around the city. There is already fierce fighting in and around the city as troops try to push rebel forces out from southern and eastern districts. In Damascus, army sources said they had pushed rebels from a last stronghold. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also notified his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on the abduction of Iranian pilgrims in Damascus and asked Turkey to help free them. Forty-seven Iranian nationals were abducted while on a pilgrimage visit to Damascus on Saturday. The pilgrims were kidnapped on their way to the shrine of Sayyidah Zaynab. The pilgrims were abducted by armed assailants opposed to the Syrian government. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Davutoglu promised that as before Turkey will use all its efforts to help free the Iranian nationals kidnapped on Saturday. Like Qatar, Turkey also has influence over Syrian opposition groups which are involved in a fierce battle with the government.