Russian patriarch on Syria peace bid

DAMASCUS, Nov 12 (AFP): Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill Saturday started a peacemaking bid to unrest- swept Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad and other leaders, officials said. "I am deeply convinced that all the problems can be solved peacefully and through dialogue," Kirill told journalists at Damascus airport, the Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax reported. "The most important thing is that human blood is not spilled. History teaches us that when human blood is spilled it will be hard to solve the problem," he said. Patriarch Kirill is due to meet Assad Sunday and travel on to Lebanon the next day for talks with President Michel Suleiman, the church said in a statement. It did not explicitly tie the trip to the eight months of violence gripping Russia's traditional regional ally, but a spokesman for the patriarch said Kirill was travelling in a peacemaking role.