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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and other western European powers need to work with Russia as well as the United States to solve the crisis in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday. Related Stories 1. Syria will be topic at Saturday meeting of ministers in Berlin Reuters 2. Russia's Lavrov says Moscow to continue military support of Syria: reports Reuters 3. Russian Planes Transport Weapons, Humanitarian Aid to Syria, Moscow Says The Wall Street Journal 4. Russia says it ships both arms and aid to Syria by air Reuters 5. Defiant Russia pledges more Syria assistance AFP 6. Credit...

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. "The Russians are no longer advising, but co-leading the war in Syria," one intelligence official said. The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran's proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Intelligence sources told Fox News that -- in addition to the previously reported arrival of nearly 50 Russian marines, 100 housing units and armored vehicles...

Russia is building a military base in Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s heartland, according to American intelligence officials, in the clearest indication yet of deepening Russian support for the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad. The anonymous officials say Russia has set up an air traffic control tower and transported prefabricated housing units for up to 1,000 personnel to an airfield serving the Syrian port city of Latakia. Russia has also requested the rights to fly over neighbouring countries with military cargo aircraft during September, according to the reports. The claims, which will raise fears that Russia is planning to expand its...

More than two years into Syria's civil war, President Bashar Assad is settling his bills for Russian weapons orders through the Russian banking system to try to shore up ties with his most powerful ally, according to a Russian arms industry source. The payments, which have increased in recent months, show how Assad has sustained his ties with his main diplomatic defender, a relationship that has come under the spotlight as Western countries plan military action to punish him for suspected chemical weapons attacks on civilians. An investigation shows that the relationship has deepened in recent months. Although it is...

The Syrian crisis unbelievably took another turn for the worse Saturday, Dec. 29: After making no headway with Bashar Assad in Damascus, the UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was told in no uncertain terms by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow: “There is no possibility of persuading Syrian ruler Bashar Assad to leave Syria.” As they spoke, a record 400 people died in hostilities in the country. The burnt remains of hundreds of people slaughtered by the army were discovered in a Homs district. And Syrian opposition leaders have repeatedly preconditioned their acceptance of the Russian invitation to talks...