ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Western and Arab nations stepped up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, mistrusting his acceptance of a plan to end a year of bloodshed, but were not expected to arm rebels or fully recognize an opposition council.
Opening a "Friends of Syria" conference in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told foreign ministers and other officials from some 70 countries that the "legitimate demands of the Syrian people must be met, right here, right now".
In her prepared remarks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged members of Assad's government to halt operations targeting civilians, or face "serious consequences".
She said the United States was providing communications gear and other aid to Syria's civilian opposition, and denounced Assad for failing to follow through on his agreement to a peace plan proposed by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan.
"Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises," she said.
The United States and its Gulf Arab allies, suspecting Assad of playing for time, urged Annan on Saturday to set a timeline for "next steps" if no ceasefire materialized.
A Western diplomat said the "Friends of Syria" would declare support for Annan's mission, but stress it cannot be open-ended.
The diplomat said their communiqu? would promise additional measures to protect the Syrian people, and say the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China have twice blocked resolutions on Syria, should play an important role in ending the conflict.
"The wording is constructively ambiguous," the diplomat said.
Violence has raged unabated despite Annan's mediation. Opposition activists reported at least 35 people killed on Sunday, many of them in clashes between the army and rebels in northwestern and eastern Syria.
Syrian media derided the Istanbul meeting, which the Baath newspaper described as "a regional and international scramble to find ways of killing more Syrians and destroying their society and country, to reach the broad goal of weakening Syria".
Around 50 Assad supporters protested outside the conference centre, waving Syrian, Russian and Chinese flags and brandishing pictures of the Syrian leader. "Allah, Syria, Bashar, that's it" and "Down, down USA" they chanted, before police removed them.
ANNAN'S PLAN
Annan will brief the U.N. Security Council on Monday on his efforts to calm a conflict in which Syrian security forces have killed more than 9,000 people, by a U.N. estimate, while rebels have killed 3,000 troops and police, according to Damascus.
His six-point plan demands that Assad order his military to cease fire, withdraw troops from cities and open daily windows for humanitarian aid, but does not require him to step down.
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Saturday it would stop shooting if Assad pulled heavy weaponry out of urban areas, but Damascus said its forces must stay to maintain security.
Gulf Arab countries within the "Friends of Syria" group have pushed for more support to be given to the FSA, formed to fight back after months of violent repression of unarmed protesters.
But Western countries fear strident opposition from Russia and China, which did not attend the Istanbul meeting, as well as the prospect of being sucked into an intractable conflict.
They have slapped sanctions on Syria, but these have failed so far to soften the government's crackdown on its opponents.
Wary of military intervention and unsure of the credibility of the fractious opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), Western powers have yet to discover how to unseat Assad.
Clinton urged the Syrian opposition to translate its vision for a democratic post-Assad era into a "political action plan to win support among all of Syria's communities".
SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun pressed the "Friends of Syria" to strengthen the rebel army and open humanitarian aid corridors.
He chided foreign powers and the Arab League for failing to reach a political agreement against Assad. "For this reason the Syrian regime has carried out more massacres and has been encouraged by this, but enough is enough," Ghalioun declared.
CAUTIOUS PLEA
In a separate statement, the SNC requested communications and other non-lethal equipment for the FSA, and possibly arms.
"The provision of arms is not our preferred option. We know it carries high risks of escalation into civil war but we cannot stand back and watch our people being massacred," it said.
At a reconciliation meeting in Istanbul last week, the SNC agreed to become more transparent and inclusive. Critics say the Muslim Brotherhood wields undue influence over the body, even though it is led by Ghalioun, a secular Paris-based academic.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France shared Turkey's desire for the SNC to be recognised as "the legitimate representative body of the Syrian people", but acknowledged a lack of consensus among the "Friends".
The forum was to discuss setting up a "trust fund" for the opposition, though a Western diplomat said it was not clear if nations would contribute without clarity on its purpose.
Western countries want any such funds to be used for humanitarian efforts, but doubt the need for this, given that U.N. agencies stand ready to provide relief.
The SNC wants to support the FSA's efforts to protect civilians, and pay recruits who defect from Assad's forces. Diplomats say Gulf states are ready to fund such efforts.
If Annan's plan fails, the next steps could include a return to the Security Council for a binding resolution, with increased pressure on Assad's allies Russia and China, which have endorsed Annan's mission, to get tough with Damascus.
If Annan signals progress, Council diplomats say work could start on a resolution to send 200 to 250 unarmed U.N. observers to Syria to monitor an eventual ceasefire.
In Syria, five rebels, four soldiers and a civilian were killed in fierce clashes in the town of Quriya in Deir al-Zor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Defectors also attacked an army convoy near the village of Janoudiya in Idlib province, close to the Turkish border, killing at least four soldiers and wounding 11, it said.
Another 21 civilians, rebels and soldiers died elsewhere, including in the southern province of Deraa, where the uprising erupted a year ago, and in Homs, where activists said government forces continued to bombard parts of the city.
The British-based Observatory said 53 people, including 10 soldiers, were killed across Syria on Saturday. The state news agency SANA said military funerals took place the same day for 20 soldiers and security men killed by "armed terrorist groups".
(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut and Tulay Karadeniz, Seda Sezer, Jon Hemming, Simon Cameron-Moore and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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Public release date: 1-Apr-2012
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