Iraq Grounds Iranian Syria-Bound Plane

Iraqi authorities have ordered an Iranian cargo jet flying for Syria to land in Iraq to be inspected for possible shipments of weapons for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The plane landed at the international airport in Baghdad to be searched.

After no banned items were found on board, it was released for its destination.

This is the second time that Iraq grounds an Iranian plane headed for Syria, after a similar incident October 2.

Turkey has also made such moves - October 10 it provoked international controversy after grounding a Syrian passenger plane coming from Russia.

A week later, an Armenian passenger plane was also intercepted and had to land in Turkey for inspection.

Some countries, including the USA, allege that Russia and Iran are supplying weapons to the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.