Vladimir Putin used a rare visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk up the Kremlin's potential to help broker a political settlement to the crisis as he tried to show the West Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.
Russian air strikes in Syria's Latakia province killed a rebel commander and four other fighters from a group armed by President Bashar al-Assad's foreign enemies, a spokesman for the group said on Tuesday.
Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies near Aleppo said on Monday they had received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad since the start of a major government offensive last week.
China's foreign minister has repeated his country's opposition to the use of force to resolve the crisis in Syria, saying that a political solution is still the only way out, China's foreign ministry said on Friday.
