Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of the Syrian opposition Wednesday during a conference of the Group of Eight (G-8) foreign ministers in London, Bloomberg reported. Kerry indicated that the U.S. will give more aid to the rebels attempting to oust President Bashar al-Assad. 

The U.S. has given the rebels food and medical supplies, Bloomberg reported. President Obama is expected to authorize additional limited steps to support the rebel groups as early as next week and is considering giving combat items such as body armor and night-vision goggles, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The United Kingdom and France already give the rebels military-style equipment including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, according to Bloomberg.

Opposition officials and the newly elected interim prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, demanded weapons, a U.S. official who attended the meeting and asked not to be identified told Bloomberg. 

From The Wall Street Journal: 

In addition to considering night-vision goggles and body armor, the White House last week started reviewing a new set of potential military options, including proposals to bomb Syrian aircraft on the ground and to use Patriot antimissile batteries in Turkey to defend swaths of northern Syria from the regime's Scud missiles, officials said.

But defense officials said the new military options faced potentially insurmountable technological and legal hurdles—underscoring the difficulty of finding a plausible way to address increasing international pressure to weigh in more forcefully on the side of the Syrian rebels.

The White House has already considered—and rebuffed—other military options the Pentagon presented last year, including proposals to create a no-fly zone.

Western and Middle Eastern nations attempting to help the opposition will meet in Turkey on April 20, Reuters reported. Kerry will attend the meeting.

 

Read more of Neon Tommy’s coverage on Syria here.

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