Obama, Erdogan Agree on 'Non-Lethal' Aid for Syria's Rebels
U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed Sunday on the need to send "non-lethal" aid to Syrian rebels, including communications equipment, a U.S. official said.
The two leaders agreed that a "Friends of Syria" group meeting on April 1 should seek to provide such aid and also medical supplies, as they met in South Korea on the eve of a nuclear security summit, said U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.
Washington has said several times that it is looking at providing non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar Assad, whom the United States says should step down.
The rebels are badly outgunned by Syria's armed forces but the White House has said that it does not favor arming the rebels, arguing that further "militarizing" the conflict would worsen civilian bloodshed.
Washington has also ruled out unilateral military action in Syria, and says there is no coalition favoring multilateral action like that which ousted Libya's Moammar Gadhafi last year.
In the talks with Erdogan, Obama said the United States and Turkey agreed that "there should be a process" of transition to a "legitimate government" in Syria.
Erdogan noted that 17,000 refugees had fled to Turkey from Syria and said "we cannot be spectators" to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the crackdown on rebel groups that has killed more than 9,000 people, according to monitors.
The two leaders also discussed Iran, with Obama reiterating a warning he made earlier this month that the "window" for diplomacy to end a showdown with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program was closing.
Source: Agence France Presse
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