US mulls more aid for Syrian rebels: Report

, Feb 19: The Obama administration is mulling paying salaries to some rebel forces and providing more transportation and intelligence to

the Syrian opposition, the US media reported Tuesday.

According to The New York Times, the US is planning it in its search for more options to help break the stalemate in battlefields and peace talks.

In addition, President Barack Obama and other Western leaders " had dropped their objections to proposals by Saudi Arabia and other countries to funnel more advanced weapons to vetted rebel groups, including portable antiaircraft weapons, often called manpads," Xinhua quoted administration officials as saying in the US daily.

The second-round negotiations of the Geneva II international conference on Syria concluded on Saturday without tangible results, and the Syrian government and opposition could not agree on a date for the next round of talks.

Obama has been unwilling to get involved directly in the Syrian conflict since it broke out in March 2011, and backtracked on a promise to launch cruise missile strikes on government targets in September after al-Assad agreed to eliminate his country's stockpiled chemical weapons.

IANS