Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu discussed with Lebanese officials on Saturday bilateral ties and regional developments.

Davutoglu arrived at Beirut airport on Saturday morning and headed to Baabda palace for talks with President Michel Suleiman.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone Friday with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria and Iran's nuclear program, the White House said.

"They agreed that the U.S. and Turkey should continue to support the legitimate demands for democracy for the Syrian people and condemned the brutal action of the Assad regime," it said in a statement.

A Russian ship, allegedly carrying tons of weapons, made a dash for Syria after Cypriot officials allowed it to leave their waters, Turkish officials said Thursday.

The ship had made an unscheduled stop in Cyprus Tuesday, technically violating an EU embargo on arms shipments to Syria, which has killed thousands in a crackdown on dissent.

Turkish police launched a nationwide swoop on alleged sympathizers of Kurdish separatist rebels and arrested more than 20 people, broadcaster NTV and other media outlets said.

The operation included a raid on the Ankara office of Leyla Zana, a Kurdish lawmaker known for her pro-independence views, the television channel said.

Authorities prevented a convoy of 200 opposition activists Thursday from entering Syria via Turkey with medical aid for victims of the ongoing uprising, an Agence France Presse reporter at the border said.

Some of the activists said they had traveled from as far afield as the United States and western Europe in order to join the so-called Freedom Convoy which included five buses and several cars.

Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev warned that military escalation is likely in Iran, with "real danger" of a U.S. strike, in an interview published Thursday.

He added that Syria, which has refused to break its ties with Tehran, could also be a target for Western intervention.

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Thursday held talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear program with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

The source said the fragile situation in Iraq, locked in a political standoff that has raised sectarian tensions after the withdrawal of U.S. troops, also featured during a breakfast meeting.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the former head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, are among the high-level dignitaries who would attend a U.N. conference on democracy in the Arab world over the weekend, al-Liwaa daily reported.

The newspaper said Wednesday that Davutoglu and Moussa will address the "Reform and Transitions to Democracy" conference which will also see U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon as a keynote speaker.

The leader of the 1980 Turkish coup and a co-conspirator have been charged with crimes against the state after an Ankara court approved an indictment Tuesday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Prosecutors have sought life imprisonment for ailing retired generals Kenan Evren, 94, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, it reported.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Monday of a "civil war" in neighboring Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's regime is persisting with a deadly crackdown on opponents.

"The situation that has emerged there is right now heading towards a religious, sectarian and racial civil war. This must be stopped," Erdogan said at a televised press conference.