 U.S. To Give Syrian Opposition $60 Million More In Non-Lethal Aid, Kerry Says 
 
 The Obama administration will ask Congress for an additional $60 million in aid to help the Syrian opposition council provide basic goods and services in areas under rebel control, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday in Rome. In a tweet following the Rome meeting, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain will “be announcing new assistance.” 
 
 Britain and France have been awaiting an easing of a European Union arms embargo on Syria that will go into effect Friday. The European Union, acting on a decision this month to send direct aid to the rebels, said it had amended sanctions on Syria to permit the supply of armored vehicles, non-lethal military equipment and technical aid, provided they were intended to protect civilians. He estimated that four fifths of the city was now under rebel control and the insurgents had taken over Aleppo’s historic Umayyad mosque and the Palace of Justice. NPR's Michele Kelemen, who is among the correspondents traveling with Kerry on his first overseas trip since becoming secretary, tells our Newscast Desk that the U.S. "is also offering non-lethal assistance to the free Syrian army — in the form of food rations and medical supplies." Putin said Russia - one of Assad’s staunchest allies - would look at Hollande’s proposal, “which I think we could consider with all our partners and try to carry out.” 
 
 Russia has said Assad’s departure must not be a precondition for talks and a political solution, while the West has sided with Syria’s opposition in demanding his removal from power. He argued that the real enemy is the Assad regime but said too many outsiders are worried only about “the length of a beard of a fighter.” 
 
 “No terrorists in the world have such a savage nature as those in the regime,” Khatib said in Arabic. “I am absolutely confident ... that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact of the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals.”
– The US intends to step up its "non-lethal" aid to the Syrian opposition, John Kerry announced after a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group in Rome today. The Obama administration will ask Congress for $60 million in aid, along with food rations, and medical supplies, the BBC reports. "The US decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah," Kerry said. But the move doesn't go as far as reports yesterday indicated it might, NPR points out—there was no mention of body armor, armored vehicles, or military training, for instance. US officials say the opposition has brought up "other needs," and that it is "keeping that under review." In the meantime, Britain and other nations are likely to provide such equipment, the Washington Post reports. But despite the caution, one Syrian leader expressed optimism, Reuters reports. "We heard today a different kind of discourse," he said.