The US top diplomat headed for talks with the Syrian opposition and its key backer Saudi Arabia Friday after the White House asked lawmakers for $500 million to train and equip vetted rebels. The move would mark a significant escalation of US involvement in the three-year-old civil war in Syria, which is **w increasingly interlinked with a jihadist-led Sunni Arab insurgency in neighbouring Iraq. Saudi King Abdullah, who will meet Secretary of State John Kerry in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, has long called for greater US military support for the Syria rebels, whom the Sunni kingdom has long backed. He has also been an outspoken critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki whose Shiite-led government has seen insurgents sweep up a huge swathe of territory **rth of Baghdad, including second city Mosul, since June 9.
06-29-2014, 01:42 AM
Kerry in Syria opposition talks as US moves to arm rebels
The US top diplomat headed for talks with the Syrian opposition and its key backer Saudi Arabia Friday after the White House asked lawmakers for $500 million to train and equip vetted rebels. The move would mark a significant escalation of US involvement in the three-year-old civil war in Syria, which is **w increasingly interlinked with a jihadist-led Sunni Arab insurgency in neighbouring Iraq. Saudi King Abdullah, who will meet Secretary of State John Kerry in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, has long called for greater US military support for the Syria rebels, whom the Sunni kingdom has long backed. He has also been an outspoken critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki whose Shiite-led government has seen insurgents sweep up a huge swathe of territory **rth of Baghdad, including second city Mosul, since June 9.
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