Syria opposition says west has pledged military aid: Report
Syrian rebel fighters stand guard at a check point in Aleppo’s northern Izaa quarter, on November 3, 2012.
Syria's newly-minted opposition umbrella group, the National Coalition, says it has been offered military aid from western nations, the Guardian reported Monday.
The coalition, whose full name is the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, officially formed this weekend during negotiations in Doha. Their announcement comes ahead of a Friday donor conference where offers of "purely non-lethal aid" to the opposition will be considered, the Guardian wrote.
Opposition groups in Syria have previously appealed to western nations for aid; requests for more than humanitarian support has been a tough sell for many donor nations given the fractured, disparate nature of oppostion forces.
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Pressure is mounting on both international actors and those inside Syria to contain the conflict, which is roiling relations with neighboring countries as stray fire crosses borders and refugees stream away from the violence.
On Sunday, Israel fired warning shots into its northern neighbor, responding to Syrian shells that have recently landed in the Golan Heights. It's the second time in two days the states have exchanged fire, the first exchanges between the countries since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
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