Syria conflict: US and Russia hold surprise talks - live updates

Live• Lavrov, Clinton and Brahimi meet in Dublin
• UK seeks to amend arms embargo on Syria to help rebels
• Six dead in clashes between pro and anti-Morsi protesters


Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov watches as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives for a group photo at the OSCE conference in Dublin. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/AFP/Getty Images







UK support for Syrian rebels

Britain will next week to amend an arms embargo on Syria to make it easier to help Syrian rebels, Reuters reports.
A Foreign Office official said the increased "practical support" that Britain envisaged would be training and non-lethal equipment. Items such as body armour and night-vision goggles are currently caught up in a European arms embargo aimed at stemming supplies to Assad's forces.
European foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Last week EU diplomats said they had agreed to reduce the renewal period of a package of sanctions against Syria, including the arms embargo, to three months rather than one year to make it easier to supply the rebels.
"Having successfully amended the EU arms embargo (and sanctions package) by setting a three-month renewal period, we will make fresh arguments in support of amending the arms embargo ahead of the March 2013 deadline in a way that offers sufficient flexibility to increase practical support to the Syrian opposition," Foreign Office Europe minister David Lidington said in a statement.
Western powers have been wary of supplying weapons to Syria's rebels because the political and armed opposition to Assad has been fragmented. Opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Coalition was formed only last month and further unity talks have been fraught.
However, the Foreign Office on Thursday hailed the coalition's appointment of a representative to Britain, Walid Saffour, as a "sign of progress".
Saffour held talks with David Quarrey, the FCO's director for the Middle East and North Africa today.
Last week Saffour told the Guardian he would be lobbying the UK to help supply arms to the Syrian opposition.



US and Russia discuss Syria

The US, Russia and the international envoy on Syria are to hold a surprise meeting on Syria, AP reports.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and mediator Lakhdar Brahimi will gather in Dublin on the sidelines of a human rights conference, a senior US official said.
Ahead of the three-way meeting, Clinton and Lavrov met separately for about 25 minutes. They agreed to hear Brahimi out on a path forward, a senior US official said.
The gathering of the three key international figures suggests possible compromise in the offing. At the least, it confirms what officials describe as an easing of some of the acrimony that has raged between Moscow and Washington.
The threat of Syria's government using some of its vast stockpiles of chemical weapons is also adding urgency to diplomatic efforts.
One idea that Brahimi could seek to resuscitate with US and Russian support would be the political agreement strategy both countries agreed on in Geneva in June.
That plan demanded several steps by the Assad regime to de-escalate tensions and end the violence that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011. It would then have required Syria's opposition and the regime to put forward candidates for a transitional government, with each side having the right to veto nominees proposed by the other.
The US insists the tide of the war is turning definitively against Assad.
On Wednesday, the administration said several countries in the Middle East and elsewhere have informally offered to grant asylum to Assad and his family if they leave Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov watches as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives for a group photo at the OSCE conference in Dublin. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/AFP/Getty Images

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