Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian foreign ministers to meet on Friday

Cairo: Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein will meet his Syrian and Iranian counterparts on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria, the Iraqi state news agency said on Thursday.

The Friday meeting comes after a whirlwind advance by Syrian rebels that started last week as they captured the main northern city of Aleppo from Iran-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and then captured the city of Hama on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Iraq's capital Baghdad, the Iraqi state news agency (INA) said, adding that the Iranian foreign minister is to arrive on Friday.

Some Iraqi fighters entered Syria early this week to support Assad, Iraqi and Syrian sources said. Iraq's Iran-aligned Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition has mobilised along the border with Syria, saying this was purely preventative in case of spillover into Iraq.