like-minded allies to come together and try to help shape the opposition, outside Syria and inside Syria,” Cameron said. “And try to help them achieve their goal, which is our goal of a Syria without Assad.”
Meanwhile, a car bomb killed a judge in Damascus on Wednesday, the second assassination in the capital in two days targeting high-ranking supporters of President Bashar Assad.
The state-run SANA news agency said a “terrorist group” planted explosives under the car of Judge Abad Nadhwah when it was parked in front of his house. The bomb was detonated remotely, killing the judge instantly. Assad’s government often refers to the opposition fighters as “terrorists.”
The regime stronghold of Damascus has seen an upswing in violence this week with some of the fiercest clashes in months.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said talks with rebel military leaders would not involve advice on military tactics or support for their operations. Hague also insisted that Britain would not consider offering weapons to Assad’s opponents.
“British contacts with military elements of the Syrian armed opposition will be limited to a political dialogue including working towards an inclusive political transition,” he told lawmakers in the statement.
Face-to-face meetings with military figures will take place outside Syria, Hague said. Diplomats from the U.S., Britain, France and Turkey are already scheduled to meet with Syrian opposition groups on Thursday in Doha, Qatar, though there has been no announcement that those talks will include discussion with rebel fighters.
“With the re-election of Obama, what you have is a strong confidence on the British side that the U.S. administration will be engaged more on Syria from the get-go,” said Shashank Joshi, an analyst at London’s Royal United Services Institute, a military and security think tank.
At the Zaatari camp, where more than 33,000 people have fled Syria, Cameron said he would press Obama at the first opportunity to drive forward efforts to end the 19-month-old conflict.
“One of the first things I want to do with the newly elected president is talk about how we can do more for refugees here on the border, more pressure on the United Nations, more pressure on this dreadful regime behind me in Syria, more to help the opposition,” Cameron said.
Cameron will convene a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council in London devoted entirely to Syria and how the U.K. can encourage Obama to pursue a more direct strategy, the British leader’s office said.
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