Cameron to meet Putin ahead of G8 summit

British Prime Minister David Cameron holds talks on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Syria's civil war, a meeting which could set the tone for the G8 summit, with the West at odds with Moscow over how to handle the conflict. Cameron is seeking to forge a consensus as he hosts the leaders of the world's top industrialised nations in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, from Monday. Washington has upped the ante on Syria by vowing to send military aid to rebel forces battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad after saying it had proof that the regime had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons on a small scale. Russia, which has given the Syrian regime military support and ignored months of pleas from the West to rein in Assad, was dismissive of the US claims. American officials will not reveal exactly what military support will go to the rebel Supreme Military Council, although by many estimates it will initially be assault rifles and ammunition. It seems unlikely it will include the imposition of a no-fly zone to protect rebels from air attack by regime forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that such a zone would violate international law. Lavrov backed Assad, saying there was no need for the Syrian leader to use chemical weapons against the rebels because his forces were making steady advances on the ground anyway. "What sense is there for the regime to use chemical arms -- especially in such small amounts?" he asked. Ahead of his talks at Downing Street with Putin, Cameron said it was essential to assist the moderate rebels prepared to work with the West before extremists linked to Al-Qaeda gained the upper hand in the opposition. "I want to help the Syrian opposition to succeed and my argument is this: yes, there are elements of the Syrian opposition that are deeply unsavoury, that are very dangerous, very extremist, and I want nothing to do with them," he told Sky News television. "But there are elements of the Syrian opposition who want to see a free, democratic, pluralistic Syria that respects the rights of minorities, including Christians, and we should be working with them." Cameron, who is due to meet Putin at 1400 GMT, has not said whether he favours sending weapons to the rebels, but he believes the lifting in May of a European Union arms embargo was essential to put pressure on Assad. Putin will follow his talks with Cameron by meeting US President Barack Obama in Northern Ireland on Monday. The international community has long been divided over how to tackle the Syria conflict, which according to UN figures has cost at least 93,000 lives since March 2011. The fighting has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones, pitting a Sunni-led opposition against the Alawite-dominated regime. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is pushing for an international peace conference on Syria, warned on Saturday that the chances for a political settlement could be undermined by the regime's use of chemical weapons. Cameron held a teleconference on Syria with four of the G8 leaders on Friday -- Obama, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta. A statement from Cameron's office said the leaders had discussed "how G8 countries should all agree to work on together a political transition to end the conflict". The pre-G8 meetings are also likely to ponder the impact of the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani as Iran's new president. Putin urged him to forge closer ties with Moscow, while the United States offered the prospect of direct engagement with Iran but the Israel called on world powers to keep up the pressure over the Islamic republic's nuclear drive. While Syria is set to dominate the G8 agenda, Cameron made progress on Saturday with another of his summit aims by striking a deal with British overseas territories to clamp down on tax evasion.