EghtesadOnline: Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif held a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday to discuss solutions to the Syrian crisis as well as other regional issues and bilateral ties.

EghtesadOnline: The Syrian army and its allies made new gains in Aleppo on Sunday, forcing rebels back into an ever shrinking pocket crammed with civilians, but lost control of the desert city of Palmyra to a swift Islamic State attack.