Western and Arab governments have pledged more political and material support for the civilian Syrian opposition and called for an immediate halt to arms supplies to the Assad government.
A final statement after a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” diplomatic group in Rome added: “The regime must immediately stop the indiscriminate bombardment against populated areas which are crimes against humanity and cannot remain unpunished”.
“The ministers pledged more political and material support to the (Syrian National) coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people and to get more concrete assistance (into) Syria,” it said.
They gave no detail of what kind of support would be supplied.
The statement also deplored “the unabated arms supply to the regime by third countries”.
Speaking after talks with the Syrian opposition and mainly European and Arab countries supporting them, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said his country would provide Syrian opposition with $60m in new aid and work with rebel fighters.
The US plans for the first time to provide non-lethal aid, including food rations and medical supplies, to opposition fighters battling the Syrian government and it will more than double aid to the civilian opposition, the US secretary of state said at a joint press conference.
Bashar al-Assad lost his legitimacy long ago, and has lost his power, Kerry said.
The meeting came ahead of an important meeting of the Syrian National Coalition on Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey where the umbrella opposition group is to elect a prime minister and government to run parts of Syria seized from Assad’s control.
In Paris as part of a European tour on Wednesday, Kerry made it clear Washington was ready to step up its support for the opposition.
“We are examining and developing ways to accelerate the political transition that the Syrian people seek and deserve, and that is what we will be discussing in Rome,” Kerry said.