- Iraq says it is not allowing Iran to use its air space to transport weapons to Syria
- Russian President Vladimir Putin warns the West that its stance on Syria is 'dangerous'
- At least 10 people die in fighting across Syria, the opposition says
(CNN) -- (CNN) -- Three U.S. senators traveled to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi leaders over the worsening crisis in Syria amid reports that Iraq is allowing Iran to use its air space to deliver weapons to President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Here are the latest developments for Thursday:
U.S. warns Iraq against allowing Iran to use air space
Iraq is disputing reports that it is allowing Iran to deliver weapons to Syria, a denial that follows word that several U.S. senators traveled to Baghdad to warn against such an act.
"Iraq will not allow any country to supply weapons or fighters through its lands or airspaces to the conflicted parties in Syria," Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraq's government spokesman, told CNN by telephone Thursday.
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Red Cross: Syria conflict must end His comments follow word a day earlier from a U.S. State Department spokesman that "Iranians are doing little to hide their hand" in supporting the Syrian regime.
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"And so we've expressed some concerns to our Iraqi partners, and Iraq has taken steps in the past to meet their international obligations," Patrick Ventrell, an acting deputy spokesman, told reporters Wednesday.
"...It's something that's a matter of ongoing discussion between us and our Iraqi partners."
Ventrell declined to comment on whether the United States was convinced Iran was transporting weapons to Syria through Iraqi air space. He said "this is an issue we've raised with our Iraqi partners, I'm not going beyond that."
But Ventrell's comments came as news broke that Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Al-Dabbagh declined to detail the meetings, which were confirmed by Lieberman and McCain in posts on Twitter.
"Discussed #Syria crisis w/ Iraq PM Maliki & FM Zebari. It's clear Assad's killing campaign threatens the whole region," McCain said in a post on Twitter.
Lieberman, meanwhile, said the United States must "make real our strategic partnership" with Baghdad, especially as the Syria crisis worsens," according to a Twitter post.
He also called for a no-fly zone in Syria.
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The Shiite-dominated Iran is closely allied with Syria's Alawite minority-controlled government. President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Al-Assad has been under enormous international pressure to step down and end a civil war that began 18 months ago when Syrian forces began a brutal crackdown on an anti-government protest movement that quickly devolved into an armed conflict.
Putin warns West: Stance on Syria is "dangerous"
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that the West's position on the Syrian crisis is "fraught with dire consequences."
The comments -- made in an interview with the state-run RT news channel -- came as tensions between Russia and the United States, the European Union and members of the Arab League have escalated over the crisis in Syria.
"Today some want to use militants from al Qaeda or some other organizations with equally radical views to accomplish their goals in Syria," Putin said in the interview. "This policy is very short-sighted and is fraught with dire consequences."
Putin compared alleged Western funding of militants to topple al-Assad with with U.S. support for Afghan rebels following the 1979 Soviet invasion.
"At that time, our present partners supported a rebel movement there and basically gave rise to al Qaeda, which later backfired on the United States itself," he said.
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Russia, a trade ally with Syria, is opposed to armed intervention in Syria. Russia and China have refused any efforts at intervention. As voting members of the U.N. Security Council, the two countries have blocked efforts to call on al-Assad to transition power and step down.
"How come Russia is the only one who's expected to revise its stance? Don't you think our counterparts in negotiations ought to revise theirs as well?" Putin said during the interview.
"Because if we look back at the events in the past few years, we'll see that quite a few of our counterparts' initiatives have not played out the way they were intended to."
Syria condemns call by Egypt's Morsy for power transition
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned calls by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy for al-Assad to leave power and for Syria to enter a transitional phase.
"Morsy has made it clear and beyond any doubt that his statements reflect the views of a group that has no relevance to the real common history of the two peoples of Syria and Egypt," the foreign ministry said in a statement released Thursday.
Morsy made the comments Wednesday while addressing a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo.
Syria accused Morsy of participating in a "media incitement" aimed at fueling the violence that al-Assad's government blames on armed terrorists bent on destabilizing the government.
Al-Assad has refused to acknowledge the civil war that the opposition claims has killed more than 23,000.
In the statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Morsy was no different than the leaders of other governments "that support the terrorist armed groups with money, weapons, training and shelter, and that make them partners in the Syrian bloodshed."
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Morsy's support of the Syrian opposition reflects his solidarity with the people who took to the streets during the Arab Spring, the popular label for the democratic movements that swept across the Middle East and North Africa last year.
Death toll climbs in Syria
At least 25 people were killed in fighting early Thursday across Syria, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition group.
Among those killed were eight in Damascus and its suburbs where fighting has reportedly raged in recent weeks as rebels attempt to wrest control of portions of the capital from government forces.
Shelling was reported in the flashpoint neighborhood of Tadamun in Damascus, the LCC said.
That follows news from the LCC that at least 258 people died in fighting across Syria on Wednesday.
CNN's Saad Abedine, Ash Gallagher and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
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