U.S.: "Friends of Syria" may meet to discuss aid

Updated 3:48 PM ET

The White House announced Wednesday that the U.S. is hoping to meet with its world partners to work out ways to halt civilian casualties from the ongoing conflict in Syria as well as to provide humanitarian aid to that country's people, Reuters reported.

"In the coming days we will continue our very active discussions ... to crystallize the international community's next steps in that effort to halt the slaughter of the Syrian people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said to reporters.

Carney said that a "friends of Syria" discussion could take place, but he offered no details.

Yesterday, it was reported that the U.S. is examining the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, although the White House said it would not consider arming Syrian opposition groups.

But those efforts may only bandage over the violence instead of stopping it.

For now, Washington is relying primarily on what it has been doing for the past 11 months in a so-far unsuccessful bid to force Assad's government to end its bloody offensive on opponents: sanctions targeting the Syrian regime and isolating it from the world economy.

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It is also borrowing somewhat from a strategy used in Libya's civil war, assembling a group of like-minded nations, led by Arab governments, to coordinate an international strategy against Assad. The goal is to pressure the Syrian leader into accepting an Arab-proposed plan to transfer power to his vice president and allow for a transition to democracy.

Meanwhile, European officials said Wednesday they plan harsher economic sanctions on Syria, including a possible flight ban, as ally Russia pursued its own rival effort to resolve the crisis by trying to broker talks between the regime and opposition.

Amid the diplomacy, President Bashar Assad's regime pushed ahead with a relentless offensive on the city of Homs, the epicenter of the 11-month-old uprising. Troops with mortars and heavy machine guns blasted at least four restive neighborhoods in the city, killing at least 53 people, activists said. The assault has reportedly left hundreds dead the past five days.

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Russia and the West had an acrimonious falling out over how to deal with Syria's crisis after Moscow and Beijing over the weekend blocked a Western-Arab attempt to bring U.N. pressure on President Bashar Assad to step down.

Now each camp is pushing ahead on rival tracks. Russia has taken a line close to Assad's position, saying reforms and dialogue can bring an end to the fighting, while avoiding calls for his departure. Western and Arab nations have moved to isolate Assad while considering forming a coalition of nations to provide help to the opposition. The U.S. says it is just a matter of time before Assad goes.

Turkey, a former ally of Assad that fell out with him over the bloodshed, is proposing an international conference in Istanbul or elsewhere in the Mideast to discuss creating an "international platform that would represent the conscience of humanity" to help Syrians, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a press conference.

The U.N.'s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, called for immediate action to stop the bloodshed, saying she was "appalled" by the regime's offensive in Homs. The killings show an "extreme urgency for the international community to cut through the politics and take effective action to protect the Syrian population," she said.

Pillay's office estimated in early January that 5,400 people have been killed in Syria's upheaval since the uprising and the crackdown against it began in March. But it says it has been unable to update the estimate because of chaos on the ground. Hundreds have been reported killed since.

In Brussels, a senior European Union official said foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc will decide on harsher sanctions against Syria aimed at weakening Assad when they meet on Feb. 27. The EU has already halted oil purchases from Syria, among other sanctions.

The official said the new measures may include bans on the import of Syrian phosphates, on commercial flights between Syria and Europe, and on financial transactions with the country's central bank. The European Union takes 40 percent of Syria's phosphate exports. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with EU rules.

Russia, in contrast, has urged Assad to hold dialogue with the opposition and move ahead with reforms he has promised, including a new constitution, permission to form political parties and eventual parliamentary elections.

All those provisions are nonstarters with the opposition, which dismisses promises of reform as empty gestures, refuses negotiations while violence continues and says Assad's removal is the only option.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that outside forces should let Syrians settle their conflict "independently."