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David Cameron and President Obama to hold Syria talks Syria conflict: US and UK pledge to bolster opposition
(about 9 hours later)
UK Prime Minister David Cameron is in Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama. The US and the UK say they will work to strengthen the moderate opposition in Syria and create a transitional body to replace President Bashar al-Assad.
David Cameron is expected to push for a peace conference on Syria to be held by the end of the month. US President Barack Obama said such a body would be be the goal of a meeting in Geneva in "the coming weeks".
The prime minister believes progress is possible after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. The US recently won Russian support for the conference.
Other issues likely to be discussed include Iran, trade between the EU and the US, and the forthcoming G8 summit in Northern Ireland. British Prime Minister David Cameron, in Washington for talks, said there was an "urgent window of opportunity before the worst fears are realised" in Syria.
Mr Cameron has travelled to the US primarily for a UN meeting on global development, so, says the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell, there will be no ping pong matches or attending basketball matches together.
Instead it will mainly business, in particular the conflict in Syria. Mark Mardell says the US and Europe are "slowly inching towards arming the rebels".
This would be a complicated move, because there are many different rebel groups, some of which are hostile to the West.
Since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began more than two years ago, at least 70,000 people are believed to have been killed and more than 1.2 million are living outside Syria as refugees.Since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began more than two years ago, at least 70,000 people are believed to have been killed and more than 1.2 million are living outside Syria as refugees.
Peace conference The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at the weekend that more than 80,000 people had died, a figure cited by Mr Cameron on Monday.
President Putin together with the US proposed an international conference to find a political solution to the crisis, an issue discussed when he met David Cameron on Friday. 'Onslaught'
However details of who would attend this conference are vague, and no date has been set. Mr Cameron arrived in the US from Russia, where he had discussed the Syrian crisis with President Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday, in a press conference following talks with Mr Obama, he said he welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin's agreement to join an effort to achieve a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
"There's no more urgent international task than this. We need to get Syrians to the table to agree a transitional government that can win the consent of all of the Syrian people," he said.
But he added: "There will be no political progress unless the opposition is able to withstand the onslaught and put pressure on Assad so he knows there is no military victory."
Mr Cameron said he had not made a decision to arm the Syrian opposition, but cited the UK's push for further flexibility in the EU's arms embargo on Syria.
He also referred to an earlier pledge to double non-lethal support to the Syrian opposition over the coming year, including armoured vehicles, body armour and generators.
"I do believe that there is more we can do alongside technical advice, assistance, help, in order to shape them, in order to work with them," Mr Cameron said.
Chemical weapons
Mr Obama said the US would work to increase pressure on Mr Assad, provide humanitarian aid, support the moderate opposition and prepare Syria for a democratic transition.
"Meanwhile, we'll continue to work to establish the facts around the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and those facts will help guide our next steps," he added.
Both the UK and the US have spoken of growing evidence that the Syrian government have used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin.
Mr Obama had previously warned that such a development was a "red line" for possible intervention,
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says the US and Europe are "slowly inching towards arming the rebels" - a complicated move, because there are many different rebel groups, some of which are hostile to the West.
Mr Putin has been portrayed as one of the main obstacles preventing Western countries taking a stronger line on Syria.Mr Putin has been portrayed as one of the main obstacles preventing Western countries taking a stronger line on Syria.
As well as Syria, the two leaders will also discuss the possibility of launching talks on a EU-US trade deal at the G8 meeting to be held in June in Northern Ireland. Last week, however, the US claimed a breakthrough when the Russian leader agreed to the international peace conference on Syria, which would involve representatives of both the government and the opposition.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mr Cameron said: "When times are tough, some want to put the barriers up, to look inwards, and to protect themselves from the world. But details of who would attend this conference are vague, and no date has been set.
"Trade makes the cake bigger so everyone can benefit. Take the free trade area between Europe and the US on which we hope to launch negotiations when President Obama is in Northern Ireland for the G8 next month.
"This deal could add as much as £10bn to the British economy and £63bn [$97bn] to US GDP."
The prime minister has also called for action on tax avoidance and evasion at the G8 summit.