G8 foreign ministers meeting in London Thursday called for “greater humanitarian assistance” for war-affected Syrians, and said they were “appalled” by the rising death toll of more than 70,000 people.
Leaders of the Syrian National Coalition were present on the sidelines. During a lunch meeting on Wednesday, they asked global powers for more humanitarian aid, according to a U.S. official.
The United States, which on Feb. 28 said it would for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebel fighters and more than double its aid to civilian opposition, has so far chosen not to provide arms to the rebels.
In the final statement, the ministers themselves “called for greater humanitarian assistance and for improved and safe access to the Syrian people by humanitarian agencies in co-ordination with all parties to the conflict.
“They were appalled that more than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict and that there are now more than a million Syrian refugees registered by the UNHCR in neighboring countries, and more than two million internally displaced persons in Syria,” the statement added.
But they made no mention of supplying arms to the rebels as the opposition demanded.
The ministers reaffirmed their support for U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and for finding a political transition in Syria, they said.
The statement also urged all sides in the conflict, which has now entered its third year, to respect human rights.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Syrian opposition leaders but U.S. officials said Kerry made “no promises,” with Western nations concerned that any weapons supplied to rebels could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
Also Read
-
From Saddam’s fall to Tahrir Square: in search of the Arab Spring
For more than 200 years of Arab history, there have been calls for democratic reform. However, despite the recent revolutions and the liberation ... Features -
Did Saudi Arabia send Qaeda prisoners to Syria?
Electronic forgery, an easy job of any Photoshop user, has tampered with facts and made documents bearing official seals mean nothing anymore. In the ... Opinion -
At least 61 die in shelling, executions in Syrian town: activists
At least 61 Syrians were killed, some of them in cold blood, after troops stormed the contested town of al-Sanamein in the southern province of Deraa, ... Middle East -
Arab Israeli indicted for joining Syria rebels
An Arab Israeli was indicted on Wednesday for contact with an enemy agent after he went to Syria and joined rebels fighting the regime of President ... Middle East -
At least 4,300 Syrians killed in airstrikes since summer: Human Rights Watch
The Syrian regime has carried out indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians that have killed at least 4,300 people since ... Middle East -
Two Syrians deny managing Assad’s wealth as stated by Wikileaks
Two Syrian businessmen denied to Al Arabiya Wednesday WikiLeaks reports that they were involved in managing the assets and money of Syrian President ... Middle East -
FSA says Hezbollah has thousands of fighters in Syria
Hezbollah has deployed thousands of fighters in Damascus and in the Syrian border with Lebanon, a Syrian Free Army spokesman told Al Arabiya on ... Middle East
