Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, Dec. 11

CAIRO -- The Arab Parliament called on Monday for an urgent Arab summit to discuss ways to defy the recent U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The parliament decided to assign delegations representing the Arab Parliament to visit the African and European parliaments to hold meetings and demand for international rejection to the U.S. decision. (Arab Parliament-Jerusalem)

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CAIRO -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country is ready to resume direct flights between Cairo and Moscow after a two-year halt.

"After the airplane crash over Sinai, direct flights between the two countries stopped. During this period, Egypt exerted great efforts to guarantee high level of security at its airports," Putin said during a press conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. (Putin-Egypt)

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TEHRAN -- An earthquake measuring 6 magnitude on the Richter Scale shook the border region between Iran and Iraq at 17:39 local time (14:09 GMT), Iran's Seismological Center said.

The epicenter of the earthquake, which was felt in Iran's Kermanshah province, was at the depth of 10 km, 35.066 degrees north latitude and 45.795 degrees east longitude in the Iraqi border city of Halubcah. (Iran-Quake)

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DAMASCUS -- The surprising and rare visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Syria on Monday aimed at boosting coordination between Russia and Syria for the upcoming stage of political solution, analysts say.

On Sunday morning, people woke up to the surprising news of Putin's meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Russian-run Hmeimim airbase in the coastal city of Latakia in northwestern Syria. (Putin-Syria) Enditem