Iran pledges support for Assad's government in Syria. In the meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns against?'sectarian warfare' and hundreds more deaths mount.
In this photo, Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, meets with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday.
AP Photo/SANA
EnlargeIran has offered support to Syria's President?Bashar al-Assad?as his forces tried to choke off rebels in the northern city of?Aleppo.
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President Assad made his first public appearance on TV in nearly three weeks meeting with Iran's security chief. Holly Williams spoke with some of Syria's refugees who don't want Assad dead because they want him to "taste the suffering" they have had.Seeking to restore his authority after suffering the gravest setbacks so far in the 17-month-old uprising, culminating in the defection of his prime minister on Monday, Assad was shown on television on Tuesday meeting a senior official from his key regional ally.
It was the first footage broadcast of the 46-year-old leader for two weeks, and came a day after Syria's new caretaker prime minister was televised chairing a hastily called cabinet session, possibly to rebut reports that other ministers had deserted along with premier?Riyad Hijab.
Saeed Jalili, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran would not let its close partnership with the Syrian leadership to be shaken by the uprising or external foes.
"Iran will not allow the axis of resistance, of which it considers Syria?to be an essential part, to be broken in any way," Syrian television quoted Jalili as saying.
The "axis of resistance" refers to Shi'ite Iran's anti-Israel?alliance with Syria's rulers - from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - and the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a month-long war with?Israel?in 2006, with Iranian and Syrian support.
Damascus?and?Tehran?have held Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states and?Turkey, all allies of the?United States?and European powers, responsible for the bloodshed in Syria?by supporting the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels. Western powers sympathetic to the rebels are concerned that anti-Western Sunni Islamists could benefit from a victory for the anti-Assad forces.
Iran's?Fars?news agency said Jalili told Assad that Iran was prepared to provide humanitarian aid to Syria.
On a fence-mending visit to?Turkey, Iranian Foreign Minister?Ali Akbar Salehi?said he wanted to work with?Ankara?to resolve the crisis. Turkish Prime Minister?Tayyip Erdogan?described as "worrying" a comment on Monday by?Tehran's top general, who blamed?Turkey,?Saudi Arabia?and?Qatar?for bloodshed in Syria.
Iran has expressed fears for more than 40 Iranians it says are religious pilgrims kidnapped by rebels from a bus in?Damascus?while visiting Shi'ite shrines. Salehi wrote to U.N. Secretary-General?Ban Ki-moon?seeking his help to free them.
Rebels say they suspect the captives were troops sent to help Assad. A rebel spokesman in the?Damascus?area said on Monday three of the Iranians had been killed by government shelling. He initially said the rest would be executed if the shelling did not stop but later said they were being questioned.
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