Friends of Syria delegations convene in London

Foreign ministers from 11 western and Arab powers are meeting in London to discuss ways to "significantly step up" support for the Syrian opposition. US Secretary of State John Kerry is among those joining Foreign Secretary William Hague to assess the prospects for an end to the worsening civil war. The lack of progress in ending the brutal three-year conflict that has killed at least 150,000 was underlined this week by the announcement of the resignation of the United Nations/Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the "hopelessly divided" international community was in part to blame for leaving envoy Brahimi battling "almost impossible odds" in brokering a deal between the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and increasingly fractured rebel elements. Efforts to reconvene peace talks were dealt a massive blow when Al-Assad announced elections for June 3. A Foreign Office Spokesman said, "This meeting comes at a time of widespread indiscriminate regime violence against civilians, plans to hold elections which will be a grotesque parody of democracy, and the regime's complete failure to provide humanitarian access. "Now is the right time for those countries who support a democratic future for Syria, free from Al-Assad, to come together to do discuss how we press forward with this aim. "Foreign ministers will discuss how best to significantly step-up our support to the Syrian opposition, make urgent progress on improving the deteriorating humanitarian crisis, and reinvigorate a political process that has stalled due to regime intransigence." The so-called "London 11" is made up of Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States