ANKARA, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The massive non-lethal aid to the Syrian armed opposition at a donor meeting in Istanbul on Sunday implied that the United States may be willing to offer substantial assistance to the opposition if the Syrian government continues to brush aside a political solution to its long-time crisis, Turkish analysts say.
"The United States is putting more pressure on Damascus to succumb to a political settlement," Mesut Cevikalp, a foreign policy analyst, told Xinhua.
"(U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry's remarks indicated that the United States may be willing to commit more resources if a political settlement was not reached, which should be read as the last warning to embattled President Bashar al-Assad," he added.
As the noose around the al-Assad administration was tightened further in Istanbul meeting, Kerry said on Sunday the United States would double its non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition forces to 250 million U.S. dollars.
He also underlined that foreign backers had agreed to channel all future assistance through the rebels' Supreme Military Council.
"There could be further announcement about similar kind of support" if the Syrian government forces failed to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis, he contended.
Although the meeting fell short of the opposition's demands of heavy armament support, setting up safe haven for Syrian refugees inside Syria and establishing no-fly zones, the meeting nevertheless produced significant achievements for the opposition.
The 11-member core group of "Friends of Syria" countries welcomed the declaration by the opposition, in which it rejected terrorism, extremism, revenge campaign and pledged to insure that weapons it attained would not fall into the wrong hands.
"This may be a precursor for the transition government in Syria, " said Idris Gursoy, an Ankara-based political analyst, adding " For long time the western countries have been expressing their concern over the extremist factions in Syria. This might mean to dispel those concerns."
The United States doubled its non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition in the meeting, which included body armor, night vision binoculars, armored vehicles and advanced communication devices to the opposition.
The move hinted that Washington is increasing its pressure on Damascus administration and its backers to implement the Geneva communique which was signed in June 30, 2012 and called for political settlement.
"There is a return to Geneva agreement for the solution to the Syrian issue. There is no intervention and no-fly zone. There is politics and diplomacy," Mensur Akgun, a foreign policy expert from the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation said.
"(But) this may be a last push for the political solution," Gursoy predicted. (Wang Qiuyun contributed to the story)
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