Syria crisis: US considers more support for rebels The US is considering making its support for Syrian rebels more explicit by providing body armour, armed vehicles, and military training, the Washington Post reports, citing US and European officials. US officials remain opposed to providing weapons to the rebels. Elements of the proposed policy, which officials cautioned have not yet been finalised, are being discussed by secretary of state John Kerry in meetings this week and next with allies in Europe and the Middle East as part of a coordinated effort to end the bloody stalemate. Kerry confirmed the US was looking to provide more support to rebels. Speaking to students in Germany he said: In Syria, we want a peaceful resolution. That's our first choice. But if the president of the country decides he isn't going to come and negotiate and he's willing to just kill his people, then you need to at least provide some kind of support for those people who are fighting for their rights and for freedom and for some independence. Russia has urged the Syrian opposition to demonstrate its commitment to a diplomatic solution by naming its negotiators for a dialogue with the Assad regime. The call came after Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks with his US counterpart in Berlin. Russia's foreign ministry Twitter feed quoted Lavrov urging the opposition to commit to talks at Thursday's Friends of Syria meeting in Rome. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and US secretary of state John Kerry before their meeting in Berlin. Typhoid has broken out in a rebel-held area of Deir Ezzor due to people drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates river, according to the World Health Organisation. It reported 70 new cases of the disease in Mayadeen and said contaminated water posed a major health risk to many provinces. Unverified footage from activists purports to show some of the latest clashes in Syria's two main cities. Video shows the view from behind a wall, reportedly in Aleppo, as a tank fires. Burning buildings are also seen near Aleppo. More footage shows shells hitting buildings in the Jobar area of north-east Damascus. Palestinian territories Two teenagers shot and critically injured by Israeli soldiers have become the latest totems in a wave of violent protest across the Palestinian territories. The Israeli army has confirmed that live ammunition was used in Monday's clashes with Palestinian protesters and that two were shot with 0.22 calibre bullets - ammunition known to cause fatalities. Udi Sirkhan, 16, was shot in the head outside an Israeli military outpost near Bethlehem amid clashes after the burial of Arafat Jaradat, whose death in Israeli custody on Saturday sparked the protests. The moments leading up to the shooting of 13-year-old Mohammed Khaled Qurd were captured on film. Satellite images of a suspected nuclear site from which international inspectors have been barred for 18 months, have been published by the Telegraph. It said they showed that Iran has activated the Arak heavy-water production plant. A cloud of steam in one of images indicates heavy-water production, it said. United Arab Emirates and Bahrain Nervous Gulf states appear to be co-ordinating a crackdown on critics in the media and academic world as well as on political activists who challenge the status quo and protest about human rights abuses. Two leading Bahraini journalists were blocked from entering the United Arab Emirates on Monday for unspecified reasons, just days after the UAE refused entry to Kristian Ulrichsen, of the London School of Economics, who was scheduled to speak about Bahrain at a conference on the Arab spring, which has unsettled all the region's conservative monarchies. Iraq Tony Blair has admitted that life in Iraq today is not what he had hoped it would be and the country is still facing "big problems." But in an interview for the BBC he defended the war, saying that failing to remove Saddam Hussein would have entailed far worse consequences for the country.