U.S. considering more aid to Syrian rebels

The Obama administration is mulling paying salaries to some rebel forces and providing more transportation and intelligence to aid the Syrian opposition in its search for more options to help break the stalemate both in battlefields and peace talks, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. In addition, President Barack Obama and other Western leaders " had dropped their objections to proposals by Saudi Arabia and other countries to funnel more advanced weapons to vetted rebel groups, including portable antiaircraft weapons, often called manpads," the newspaper said, quoting administration officials. In light of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's growing hold on power over the past year, as the head of U.S. intelligence put it, intelligence chiefs from countries known as the Friends of Syria met in secret in Washington D.C. last week over "how to best provide that new lethal aid to rebel groups," the paper said. It said the gathering "reflected a belief that the diplomatic track has been exhausted unless Mr. Assad sustains significant military setbacks." The second-round negotiations of the Geneva II international conference on Syria concluded on Saturday without tangible results, and the Syrian government and opposition even could not agree on a date for the next round of talks. Obama has been unwilling to get involved directly in the Syrian conflict since it broke out in March 2011, and backtracked on a promise to launch cruise missile strikes on government targets in September after al-Assad agreed to eliminate his country's stockpiled chemical weapons. In his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Friday, Obama pledged to take "some immediate steps" to help the humanitarian situation in Syria and "some intermediate steps" to apply more pressure on the al-Assad government. Administration officials said options under review do not include directly supplying more sophisticated, heavier weapons to the rebels, or carrying out airstrikes. Some Syrian rebels are receiving weapons and training under a limited program of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Times said.