US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed Sunday on the need to send “non-lethal” aid to Syrian rebels, including communications equipment, a US official said. The leaders agreed that a “Friends of Syria” group meeting on April 1 should seek to provide such aid and medical supplies, as they met in South Korea on the eve of a nuclear security summit, said US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. Washington has said several times that it is looking at providing non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, whom the United States says should step down. The rebels are badly outgunned by Syria's armed forces but the White House has said that it does not favor arming the rebels, arguing that further “militarizing” the conflict would worsen civilian bloodshed. In the talks with Erdogan, Obama said the United States and Turkey agreed that “there should be a process” of transition to a “legitimate government” in Syria. Erdogan noted that 17,000 refugees had fled to Turkey from Syria and said “we cannot be spectators” to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the crackdown on rebel groups that has killed more than 9,000 people, according to monitors. However the Obama administration appears to fear that any weapons sent to Syria would be at risk of falling into the wrong hands, and does not appear to have confidence in rebel groups or a clear picture of their makeup.Washington has also ruled out unilateral military action in Syria.. The Arab League, which is holding its annual summit in Iraq this week, will not call for Al-Assad to resign, the group's secretary general said in comments published on Sunday.
