Close Damascus ally Iran yesterday said that President Bashar al-Assad will take part in Syria's presidential election next year and that the people will choose whomever they want as their leader.

Meanwhile, dozens of troops and rebels were killed in a ferocious dawn battle on the outskirts of a strategic city near the Turkish border, while the army said it had recaptured

tion in Britain said some European countries are expected to break with Washington and start supplying the Syrian rebels with weapons in the next few months.

The National Coalition's London representative, Walid Saffour, predicted that by the next meeting of the western and Arab Friends of Syria group in Turkey, due in late spring or early summer, "there will be a breakthrough that will end the restrictions of the European countries".

an important highway leading to second city Aleppo.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was in Tehran yesterday for talks aimed at ending the nearly two-year conflict that the United Nations says has killed at least 70,000 people

At a press conference with Muallem, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that, "in the next election, President Assad, like others, will take part, and the Syrian people will elect whomever they want."

Meanwhile, he said, the "official position of Iran is that... Assad will remain legitimate president until the next... election" in2014, said Salehi.

The Syrian minister condemned the announcement by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that Washington would provide $60 million in "non-lethal" assistance to support the Syrian political opposition.

Meanwhile, the representative of the Syrian opposi-

Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama discussed Syria and other urgent issues by telephone Friday, the Kremlin said, noting that the call was initiated by Washington.

"Within the context of the Syria crisis, Putin noted the need to end military activities as soon as possible," the Kremlin statement said.

The statements come as Syria’s army said it seized control of a road leading from Hama in the centre of the country to Aleppo international airport, scene since mid February of fierce batties pitting troops against rebel fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the report, adding that the road is significant because it will allow new troop deployments and supplies to reach the area surrounding Aleppo international airport and nearby Nayrab military airport.