REPORT: Obama meetings to consider range of options on Syria -spokeswoman

               
U.S. President Barack Obama will consider a wide range of options on Syria during meetings at the White House this week, a State Department spokeswoman said on Monday, expressing concern over a worsening situation in Syria.        

"A wider range of options have been prepared for the president's consideration and internal meetings to discuss the situation," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. "Conditions on the ground have worsened. That is frankly concerning," she added, pointing at the involvement of Hezbollah and Iran in the Syrian civil war.         

The White House meetings, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, could decide on whether to arm Syrian rebels, a U.S. official told Reuters on Monday.   

White House meetings are planned as Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces are apparently poised for an attack on the key city of Homs, which could cut off armed opposition from the south of the country and clear a path for the regime from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.      

Officials believe as many as 5,000 Hezbollah fighters are now in Syria helping the regime after it captured the town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border last week.   

This as opposition leaders have warned Washington that their rebellion could face devastating, irreversible losses without greater support.          

The Syrian conflict started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011, but later degenerated into a bloody civil war that has killed more than 80-thousand people, according to United Nations officials. It also has spilled over the borders with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Iraq, threatening to ignite a broader regional conflict.            

Positions:         

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, may prevail in the more than two-year-old uprising against him, Israel's intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday.         

For his part, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was prepared to defend its citizens, amid ongoing tension at the country's border with Syria.          

Netanyahu was making the remarks in reference to both Syria and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.           

His remarks come days after Austria announced it would pull its troops from the United Nations peacekeeping force tasked with maintaining calm between the Israel and Syria frontier.        

In turn, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has intervened in a dispute between the Iraqi and Syrian branches of his network, telling both to "stop arguing", Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported.        

Al Qaeda in Iraq announced in April that it had united with Syria's Nusra Front, which now spearheads the fight against President Bashar al-Assad.           


AP/REUTERS


To watch the full LBCI report, please click on the video above.