US, UK to do everything possible for Syrian opposition

The United States and the United Kingdom are "determined" to do everything possible to aid the Syrian opposition, US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced. Kerry, who stopped short of explicitly affirming whether the two super powers would give the opposition heavy arms that could tilt balance of power on the ground in Syria in the opposition favor, was speaking after a meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hauge in Washington to discuss aiding the Syrian opposition, ahead of next week's international summit on Syria. Both the US and the UK "are determined to do everything we can in order to help the opposition to be able to save Syria," Kerry said. Kerry did not announce plans to arm the rebel forces, following recent bloody defeats of the opposition by Syrian Pesident Bashar Al-Assad's forces. However, Hauge indicated the international community may need to step up efforts to help the opposition. "We have met several times including in Istanbul, and in Amman, recently to coordinate our actions and our diplomacy and our support of the national coalition," Hague said adding, "We will continue to do that and we may well have to intensify that in various ways over coming weeks in order to make it more likely that we can achieve a political solution in Syria." The talks come ahead of a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland where leaders will discuss a coordinated response to a worsening Syrian conflict and how to bring the warring parties together at a peace conference. During the press briefing, Kerry applauded Britain's efforts to push for a peace agreement between Israeli and the Palestinian Authority as well as efforts to push to implement strict European Union sanctions on Iran. By contrast, France in the western hemisphere is speaking in a stronger tone, calling for substantial military support for the opposition to foil possible further advance of Al-Assad's forces and prospected takover of the northern city of Aleppo, a key stronghold for the opposition. Al-Assad's forces, backed by Hezbollah gunmen, have recently gone on the offensive taking over the town of Al-Qusair, an opposition stronghold in the province of Homs. Some US officials and leading figures have repeatedly expressed concerns at presence of radical forces in the ranks of the opposition, namely Al-Qaeda-oriented gunmen. Often, they have cautioned that heavy arms "must not end in the wrong hands."