US official: Syrian rebel claims West will accommodate Assad 'patently false'

WASHINGTON (JPost) -- The United States is denying claims made by Syrian rebels this week that Western powers are willing to accommodate the continuation of Bashar Assad's regime. Such claims are "patently false," Dina Badawy, a State Department spokeswoman, told The Jerusalem Post, after rebel leaders cited a conversation in London that seemed to indicate otherwise.

Reuters characterized the story as a sign in a "shift in Western priorities, particularly the United States and Britain."

At the December 13 meeting, the London 11-- a core group of nations with pledged support to organized Syrian opposition-- publicly reaffirmed its allegiance in a statement.

"We reaffirmed that the aim of Geneva II was to implement a negotiated solution on the basis of the Geneva communiqué, by establishing a Transitional Governing Body with full executive powers agreed by mutual consent."