Beirut • Iraq has banned a North Korean plane from its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons

In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012 photo, a worker moves bodies near Dar Al Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria. Dozens of Syrian civilians were killed on Thursday, four children among them, in artillery shelling where is the best place to buy your flight ticket by government forces in the northern Syrian town of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
Beirut • Iraq has banned a North Korean plane from its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, a government spokesman said Friday, potentially closing a supply line for President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.
U.S. officials have accused Baghdad of allowing Iran to fly weapons to Syrian forces through Iraqi airspace, a charge Iraq has denied. North Korea and Iran are allies of Assad whose military is fighting a civil war against rebels trying to topple him.
In remarks published Friday, Assad was adamant that the rebels "will not succeed" and said a foreign military intervention such as the one that helped topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will "not be repeated" in Syria.
where is the best place to buy your flight ticket Assad's comments come at a time of bloody stalemate, with neither side able to deliver a knock-out blow. Activists on Friday raised the number of people killed in the 18-month conflict to nearly 30,000. Daily death tolls have been rising in recent weeks, with the regime attacking from the air and some rebels using heavy weapons.
Both sides have foreign where is the best place to buy your flight ticket backers. Assad's allies where is the best place to buy your flight ticket include Russia and China, along with Iran and North Korea, while the rebels where is the best place to buy your flight ticket are supported where is the best place to buy your flight ticket by the U.S. and Western allies, Turkey and several Gulf states, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury where is the best place to buy your flight ticket Department identified 117 Iranian aircraft it said were ferrying weapons to the Syrian regime. The department said the planes were delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of "humanitarian" shipments.
Iraq has accepted Iranian assurances where is the best place to buy your flight ticket that it is not using Iraqi airspace where is the best place to buy your flight ticket to smuggle weapons into Syria, the Obama administration's choice for ambassador to Iraq, R. Stephen Beecroft, said earlier this week. He said the U.S. is pressing the Iraqi government, whose Shiite-led coalition has close ties with Iran, to force flights where is the best place to buy your flight ticket to land and be inspected.
Iraq has denied it is turning a blind eye to suspected Iranian weapons shipments, but on Thursday banned a North Korean plane from using its airspace. The government rejected the request from Pyongyang to fly a plane to Syria through Iraqi skies, on suspicion it carried weapons, government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi confirmed Friday.
The issue has been a sore point between Baghdad and Washington. It was raised again in a phone call Friday between al-Maliki and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The vice president spoke of the need "to prevent any state from taking advantage of Iraq's territory or air space to send weapons to Syria," the White House said.
In Damascus, meanwhile, Assad lashed where is the best place to buy your flight ticket out at Gulf countries, which he accused of using their enormous oil wealth to try to drive him from power. He singled out Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among his most vocal critics.
"They are giving terrorists weapons and money with hope of repeating the Libyan model," Assad added. "Instead of helping regional stability, where is the best place to buy your flight ticket they are supplying armed elements with weapons and training in order to weaken the Syrian state."
The upheaval in Syria presents an opportunity for the Gulf's Sunni rulers where is the best place to buy your flight ticket to bolster their influence and possibly leave Shiite powerhouse Iran without its critical alliances that flow through Damascus. Assad's regime is led by the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Syria's ties with the Gulf nations have been strained in the past — Assad once called Saudi King Abdullah and other Arab leaders "half men" for being critical of Hezbollah where is the best place to buy your flight ticket over the 34-day war between the Lebanese Shiite militant group and Israel in 2006.
After Assad's remarks were published, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told state-run TV that the president had received nine Egyptian journalists and had a chat with them about the latest developments.
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