Opposition leader urges world to do more in support of Syria's civilians

Activists and state media said on Sunday that troops backed by pro-government gunmen pounded rebel areas near the Lebanese border.                  

Elsewhere, the Observatory said fighting was also reported in the northern province of Aleppo, three areas in the suburbs of Damascus and the central province of Idlib.                   

In the past two weeks, the Syrian military supported by pro-government fighters backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group has pursued a campaign to regain control of areas near the Lebanese border.                  

The frontier region, near the provincial capital of Homs, holds strategic value because it links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawite minority, and includes the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.                 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington would double its non-lethal aid to opposition forces in Syria to $250 million adding that foreign backers had agreed to channel all future assistance through the rebels' Supreme Military Council.                          

Speaking after the "Friends of Syria" meeting of the opposition and their international backers, Kerry stopped short of a U.S. pledge to supply weapons that the anti-Assad insurgents have sought.             

But he said the rebels' foreign backers were committed to continuing support to them and "there would have to be further announcements about the kind of support that that might be in the days ahead" if Syrian government forces failed to pursue a peaceful solution.          

The pledge is far less than what is sought by U.S. allies Britain and France and some U.S. lawmakers.                      

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the European Union would in the coming weeks discuss easing an arms embargo which has prevented weapons supplies to the Syrian rebels. His German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, said Berlin was skeptical about arming the rebels but also said the EU must discuss it.             

The US and its European and Arab allies are struggling to find ways to stem the escalating violence that has led to fears that chemical weapons may have been used.                            

This as the President of the Syrian National Coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, assured his resignation from the coalition since the International Community failed to address the Syrian crisis properly.          

Al-Khatib urged international partners to do more to support the Syrian people who are facing violence and suffering never seen before in the country. 
                
The opposition declaration vowed any weapons it attains would not fall into the wrong hands, a key concern of its Western backers, and said its goal was a "democratic, pluralistic" Syria.                              

"The international community is doing everything they can to support the people in Syria. But we expect more, because the humanitarian situation in Syria requires a closer support, because an unprecedented war is being waged and this a violence that has never been recorded in history of Syria," al-Khatib said standing alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.                   

The United Nations estimates that the fighting in Syria has killed more than 70-thousand people.                              
On another note, Police have arrested eight Syrians on suspicion of inciting riots at a refugee camp near the Jordan-Syria border, a Jordanian security official said Sunday.                             

About 100 Syrian refugees threw stones at police on Friday for preventing some of them from sneaking out of their desert camp. Ten police officers were wounded, including two who remain in critical condition.                                     

The security official, who requested anonymity in line with regulations, said a military prosecutor will question the eight suspects later Sunday.                            

If convicted, they face up to three years in jail.


REUTERS/AP/LBCI

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