Heavy Clashes in Syria Near Lebanese Border Syrian troops backed by pro-government gunmen captured at least one village in heavy fighting Sunday in a strategic area near the Lebanese border, activists and state media reported. The clashes came as U.S. officials said the Obama administration was poised to send up to $130 million more in nonlethal military aid to rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad. The fighting around the contested town of Qusair in Homs province has intensified during the past two weeks as the Syrian military, supported by pro-government fighters backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, has pursued a campaign to regain control of the border area. The frontier region near the provincial capital of Homs holds strategic value because it links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawite minority, and is home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus. Syria's regime is dominated by Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while the rebels are primarily Sunni Muslims. The U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked for months on the Syrian war, and even the most modest attempts to end the bloodshed have failed. Western states and many Arab nations blame the conflict on Assad's government. Russia insists on assigning equal blame for the suffering to the Syrian opposition and the government, and has cast vetoes, along with China, to block draft council resolutions. In Turkey, the Syrian opposition leadership and its international allies were gathering Saturday for a conference on the Syria conflict. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib ahead of the meeting, was expected to announce a significant expansion of nonlethal military aid to the opposition, American officials in Washington said. The supplies could include body armor, armored vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communications equipment. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Kerry's announcement publicly. While Syrian rebels have been clamoring for months for heavier weapons to help them overcome the regime's superior firepower, the U.S. and other Western nations have so far limited their support to nonlethal aid, partly out of concern that weapons could end up in the hands of Islamic extremists fighting in the rebel ranks. Like the U.S., the European Union also is looking for ways to bolster the forces fighting to oust Assad. The EU is set to ease its oil embargo on Syria, two diplomats said Friday. The decision would allow the import of oil production technology and the sale of crude from territory held by the Syrian opposition, in close coordination with the movement's leaders, the diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal decision by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers at a meeting Monday in Luxembourg. Syria's crisis began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests, but morphed into a civil war as civilians and army defectors took up arms in the face of a brutal government crackdown. More than 70,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N. The conflict threatens to draw in neighboring states, and violence in the country has spilled over the borders on several occasions.