Syria and Iran condemn US for offering support to anti-Assad rebels
Source: The Guardian
Syria and Iran have condemned a move by the US to give non-lethal aid to rebels fighting to topple the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, accusing Washington of double standards.
"I do not understand how the United States can give support to groups that kill the Syrian people," the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, told a news conference on Saturday in Tehran with Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's foreign minister.
"This is nothing but a double-standard policy
One who seeks a political solution does not punish the Syrian people." The United States said on Thursday it would for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, describing the aid as a way to bolster the rebels' popular support.
The assistance will include medical supplies, food for rebel fighters and $60m to help the civil opposition provide basic services such as security, education and sanitation.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/02/syria-iran-us-assad-rebels