French FM to attend \'Friends of Syria\' meeting in Istanbul

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius heads to Istanbul Saturday to take part in the scheduled meeting of the \"Friends of Syria\" group where a large part of the international community will gather to discuss ways to support the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) which is the leading opposition group fighting the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. The Foreign Ministry here said that the SNC will be represented at the meeting by its president, Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib and the group\'s military commander Salim Idriss. The \"Friends of Syria\" group last met in Rome on Febuary 28, a meeting that was attended by US Secretary-of-State John Kerry, who promised USD 60 million in support for the movement, but no weapons. France has been urging European nations to ease restrictions on weapons sales to the opposition as long as guarantees can be obtained that these weapons will no \"fall into the wrong hands,\" those of extremist Islamist groups who represent above 10 percent of the fighters battling Al-Assad forces in Syria. France and Britain support these arms deliveries and are negotiating with the other 27 EU nations to get agreement to modify an embargo on Syrian that will be in place until the end May. France said that \"the Syrian drama is continuing\" and \"the repression is causing more and more victims\" so \"international mobilisation must not weaken.\" The meeting in Istanbul aims to continue assistance to the SNC with its \"structuring\" and \"consolidation\" of the movement and also to see what can be done to increase pressure on Damascus to accept \"political transition rapidly.\" Participants will also examine the worsening situation for the Syrian population and refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria. There are already more than one million refugees outside of Syria in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, with many more expected before the summer if there is not respite in the conflict.