US Steps up Aid to Rebels during “Friends of Syria” Gathering, Germany Skeptical

Monday 22 April 2013

US Steps up Aid to Rebels during “Friends of Syria” Gathering, Germany Skeptical

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced during the so-called “Friends of Syria” meeting on Saturday “doubling the US aid to Syria's rebels”.

Kerry told the gathering states in Istanbul that the US would provide Syrian militants with $123 million in new, non-lethal aid.
BBC further quoted Kerry as saying that “President Barack Obama was committed to a democratic, unified, post-Assad Syria”.
The US official explained that the aid from the the “Friends of Syria” member countries will be channeled through the “Free Syrian Army” branch in Turkey.

Germany Skeptical about Sending Arms to Syrian “Opposition”

For his part, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle stressed on Saturday that “the Syrian opposition must distance itself from extremist forces,” indicating that his country was “skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels.”

“We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces,” Westerwelle told reporters at the “Friends of Syria” meeting.

“We are skeptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union,” he added.