Merkel urges UN veto powers to team up to end Syria civil war

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the world's key powers Wednesday to team up for a negotiated settlement to the war in Syria and praised signs of a thaw in US-Russian relations that may make this possible.

Speaking after talks at her office with King Abdullah of Jordan, she said efforts to restrain Iran's nuclear programme served as a model. This could work "just as we've managed to get the veto powers in the UN Security Council to cooperate very closely in the case of Iran." She added, "On my visit to Moscow I discussed how Russia has an important role to play on this, alongside the United States of course.

"I see it as a very hopeful sign that US Secretary of State John Kerry has just been in Sochi and has spoken about precisely this with the Russian president (Vladimir Putin).

Merkel said, "There can only be a political solution to the Syrian war and this can only happen under the aegis of the international community."