White House to discuss support for Syrian opposition this week

Official sources at Obama administration confirmed Monday that the White House will host meetings on Syria this week, where discussion of possibly sending lethal weapons to Syrian rebels will be on the agenda. The officials stressed to the (CNN) that no final decisions have been made, although they said that US President Barack Obama was inching closer to signing off on arming moderate rebel units that had been vetted. The White House meetings will also discuss a possible no-fly zone, although officials said that was less likely. US Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a trip this week to the Middle East to participate in the meetings, the officials said, according to the CNN. "At the president's direction, his national security team continues to consider all possible options that would accomplish our objectives of helping the Syrian opposition serve the essential needs of the Syrian people and hastening a political transition to a post-Assad Syria," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. "We have prepared a wide range of options for the president's consideration, and internal meetings to discuss the situation in Syria are routine. The United States will continue to look for ways to strengthen the capabilities of the Syrian opposition, though we have no new announcements at this time," she said. The interagency discussions come as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made gains against the opposition in the past few weeks, including capturing Qusayr, the embattled town near the border with Lebanon. Also, Hezbollah has become more active in the fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime. The opposition has warned the Obama administration that without immediate support, they could face crippling losses.