LONDON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that Syrian opposition forces will become “increasingly capable” of carrying out offensive operations against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“They will, from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves, as well as begin offensive measures,” Clinton said. She stopped short of endorsing arming the opposition or signaling that the United States might take that step.
Timeline: Major events in the country’s tumultuous uprising.
But Clinton’s comments moved the Obama administration closer than ever before to expressing support for supplying weapons and equipment to the Syrian opposition. Her remarks notably also did not include any of the previous warnings about the negative consequences of further militarizing the conflict.
Clinton spoke at a news conference after meetings here with European and Arab allies and partners, many of whom have pushed for stronger action in the face of a Syrian government crackdown in which at least 6,000 people are estimated to have died. The world leaders were in London en route to a “Friends of Syria” conference to be held Friday in Tunis.
Countries in the region, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have advocated more support for the self-styled Free Syrian Army, formed largely of government military defectors. Although U.S. officials said they are unaware of any official arms shipments so far, regional governments are said to be facilitating the transfer of supplies bought on commercial markets.
One official, among several who spoke on the condition of anonymity about policies that are still under intense internal and international discussion, compared the situation to the one in revolutionary Libya and recalled that weapons supplies to opposition forces there began in a similar manner, followed by open shipments by some Arab countries. The U.S. government, he recalled, sent nonlethal military aid, including communications equipment, and supplied training for the rebel forces.
NATO, which spearheaded the military intervention in Libya that led to the ouster of Moammar Gaddafi, has said that it has no intention of intervening in Syria, where the popular uprising began nearly a year ago. And officials from countries leading the rhetorical charge against Assad have been uniformly leery of direct military action.
In the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich criticized the Obama administration for not endorsing efforts to provide weapons aid.
“We need to work with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey to say, ‘You guys provide the kind of weaponry that’s needed to help the rebels inside Syria,’ ” Romney said.
The primary public focus of the Tunis meeting will be on developing a unified effort to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria. But although supplies for the poorly armed opposition forces are unlikely to be mentioned in the communique being prepared, they will certainly be part of the closed-door conversations there.
The Tunis gathering is modeled on the “Friends of Libya” meetings that helped organize the international response to the situation there. Additional conferences are tentatively scheduled for March, in Istanbul, and April, in Paris.
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