REPORT: "Friends of Syria" meeting discusses arming Syrian rebels in Qatar

              
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that the Syrian opposition will quit military aid in a bid to end an "imbalance" in the interest of President Bashar al-Assad.

Kerry's statements came during a conference of foreign ministers in Qatar in which he said that the United States remains committed to a peace plan that includes a conference in Geneva and a transitional government embracing  both Assad and the opposition.
 
Foreign ministers of governments supporting the Syrian opposition convened in Qatar on Saturday to discuss arming Syrian rebels.

In this context, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani called on the gathered government to deliver arms to the Syrian rebels in a bid to create a military balance on the ground that could help in establishing peace.

Sheikh Hamad also expressed support for holding of a peace conference in Geneva as suggested by the USA and Russia.

For his part, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his government will take a decision on whether to provide arms to the Syrian opposition and non-lethal equipments.

Top diplomats from Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were also set to join the Doha conference.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the meeting would address how to coordinate Western aid.

Ministers were also set to discuss a Russian and U.S. proposal for a Syrian peace conference.

On another note, eight suspected jihadist militants who formed part of a terrorist recruitment network that sent 50 militants to carry out attacks for al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria have been arrested, Spain's interior minister said Saturday.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said the arrests by police early Friday in the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta had disbanded and "neutralized" the network.

Fernandez Diaz said those who went to Syria had fought against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some had taken part in suicide bombings.

He said 12 of the 50 militants who went to Syria had been recruited in Ceuta and the rest in Morocco, adding that some had been minors.

He said that recruits were given training and finance by the network, which had two bases, one in Ceuta and the other in Morocco.

Fernandez Diaz said that when members who had been involved in terror attacks in Syria returned to Europe they remained a threat to security, some as potential "lone wolf" terrorist who needed to be arrested.

He said these types of militants were "highly radicalized and trained" to continue with the jihad or holy war on an individual scale that was "a real and serious threat to our security."

The identities of those arrested were not immediately available.


On the field:           

Activists said Syrian government forces have intensified a military offensive against rebel strongholds north of the capital Damascus.     

The heavy shelling on many fronts appears to be an attempt to cut links between districts under rebel control.                

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on an extensive network of activists in Syria, said Saturday the shelling of the district of Qaboun has killed three children, including two from the same family, since Friday. They said it also caused structural damage and started fires.        

Activists from Qaboun posted on Facebook that government forces deployed additional tanks outside the neighborhood, and the bombardment had brought buildings down. The Observatory said one rebel fighter was killed in nearby Barzeh, where rebels pushed back against a government attempt to storm the neighborhood.           


AP/REUTERS


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