ROME — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the United States would provide food rations and medical supplies to the Free Syrian Army, the military wing of the opposition that is fighting to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The assistance represents the first time that the United States has publicly committed itself to sending nonlethal support for armed factions that are battling the Assad government in the two-year-old uprising.
But the supplies Mr. Kerry announced fell well short of the weapons and equipment Syrian rebels have requested. And it remained unclear how such modest support might change Mr. Assad’s calculations about his ability to retain power, which Mr. Kerry has repeatedly said is Mr. Assad’s goal.
In addition to the nonlethal aid, the United States is providing $60 million in assistance to help the political wing of the Syrian anti-Assad coalition improve the delivery of basic services like sanitation and education in areas it has already wrested from the government’s control.
Mr. Assad is “out of time and must be out of power,” Mr. Kerry said, after meeting with Moaz al-Khatib, the leader of the Syrian opposition coalition, during a conference in Rome of the so-called “Friends of Syria” countries that support the anti-Assad uprising in Syria.
Defending the limited program of assistance to the Free Syrian Army, Mr. Kerry said that other countries would also provide help and that the “totality” of the effort would make an impression on Mr. Assad.
“We’re doing this, but other countries are doing other things,” Mr. Kerry said. But neither he nor any diplomat here provided details about that effort.
Britain is planning to provide more substantial nonlethal aid, which could include vehicles, bulletproof vests and night vision equipment, according to an American official. British officials have been consulting with their European counterparts about what sort of nonlethal aid might be allowed under the terms of European Union decisions and plans to announce its steps soon.
There has been speculation that the Obama administration might expand its program of support to the Free Syrian Army to include nonlethal equipment if rebel fighters use the initial assistance effectively and do not allow any of it to fall into the hands of extremists.
But Mr. Kerry provided no indication that such a phased expansion of nonlethal support was being planned by the White House.
American officials declined to discuss an ongoing covert program to train rebel fighters or the extent to which it has made a difference on the battlefield.
Some members of the Syria opposition said they were disappointed by the results of the Rome session.
“It is obvious that the real support is absent,” said Dr. Walid al-Bunni, a member of the anti-Assad coalition. What the resistance needed most, he said, was weapons. “What we want is to stop the Scuds launched on Aleppo, to stop the warplanes that are bombing our town and villages.”
Mr. Khatib, for is part, delivered an emotional statement in which he urged that steps be taken to establish a humanitarian corridor to the besieged city of Homs and complained that many in the West were too quick to judge some members of the opposition as Islamic extremists because of “the length of a beard of a fighter.”
“Bashar Assad, for once in your life, behave as a human being,” Mr. Khatib said. “Bashar Assad, you have to make at least one wise decision in your life for the future of your country.”
Facing divisions within the Syrian opposition about the value of the meeting, Mr. Khatib had initially decided to boycott the conference until he was encouraged to attend in phone calls from Mr. Kerry and Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
One aim of the $60 million in assistance is to help the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, the umbrella resistance group that the United States backs and has helped shape, build up its credibility within the country and contest the influence of extremist groups like the Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliated organization.
American officials have become increasingly concerned that the Al Nusra Front is making inroads among the Syrian population by dispersing assistance in the areas it controls, replicating a successful strategy used by Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite organization that is a politically powerful force in Lebanon.
U.S. Pledges Food, Medical Aid and $60 Million to Syrian Opposition
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U.S. Pledges Food, Medical Aid and $60 Million to Syrian Opposition
