The move appeared to be part of Turkey's enforcement of a newly adopted blockade against the Syrian government. After the search, which lasted at least five hours, the Armenian cargo plane was allowed to continue to Syria.

Special envoy to Syria, Vatican delegation makes visits

Seeking to forge a solution to Syria's bloody civil war, international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi visited the country's key ally in the region, Iran, before heading Monday to Iraq.

Brahimi met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called for an end to the flow of arms to both sides of the conflict, Brahimi's spokesman said.

Rebel fighters have accused Iran of sending advisers to help al-Assad put down the popular uprising.

The Vatican announced on its website that it will send a delegation to Syria next week.

"We cannot simply be spectators to this tragedy that is consuming Syria," said Secretary of State for the Vatican Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. "The Holy Father has arranged it as such so that a delegation will go to Damascus in the coming days in order to express, on behalf of him and all of us: our fraternal solidarity to the entire population."

British charge man with unlawful imprisonment

A British national arrested at Heathrow Airport near London last week has been charged with unlawfully and injuriously imprisoning photographers John Cantlie and Jeroen Oerlemans while in Syria.

Cantlie and Oerlemans were held at gunpoint in July by Syrian rebels. Cantlie said some of the people who detained him spoke with English accents.

British police arrested the 26-year-old man, Shajul Islam, after he and a female traveling companion returned to England on a flight from Egypt on October 9. Islam will appear in magistrates' court Wednesday.

The woman was not charged, police said.