TUNIS (Reuters) – Western and other countries are turning a blind eye to weapons purchases by Syrian exiles who are already smuggling light arms, communications equipment and night vision goggles to rebels inside Syria, a Syrian opposition source said Friday.

Syrian opposition supporters were also trying to find ways to bring anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to the Free Syrian Army, which is composed mainly of Syrian soldiers who have defected and volunteer civilians, the source said.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western and other countries are turning a blind eye to weapons purchases by Syrian exiles who are already smuggling light arms, communications equipment and night vision goggles to rebels inside Syria, a Syrian opposition source said Friday.

Syrian opposition supporters were also trying to find ways to bring anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to the Free Syrian Army, which is composed mainly of Syrian soldiers who have defected and volunteer civilians, the source said.

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Socialists have said they will pull troops out of Afghanistan this year if they win a presidential election, distancing themselves a little from the close relationship Nicolas Sarkozy has built with the United States.

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has also said he aims to renegotiate a European fiscal discipline treaty, irking German Chancellor Angela Merkel for whom stricter budget control is the essential lesson of the euro zone’s debt crisis.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western and Arab nations will demand on Friday that Syria allow aid to be delivered to desperate civilians in the absence of any international resolve to intervene to end a crackdown on a near year-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Foreign ministers from more than 50 countries were in Tunis for the first meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group, against the backdrop of a surge in government attacks on the city of Homs and mounting world outrage over violence that has claimed thousands of lives during the uprising.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western and Arab nations meeting on Friday will demand that Syria implement an immediate ceasefire to allow aid in for desperate civilians in the absence of an international consensus on intervention to end a crackdown on an 11-month-old revolt.

Foreign ministers from more than 50 countries will attend the first meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group in Tunis, amid a surge in government attacks on the city of Homs and mounting world outrage over violence that has claimed thousands of lives during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western and Arab nations meeting on Friday will demand that Syria implement an immediate ceasefire to allow aid in for desperate civilians in the absence of an international consensus on intervention to end a crackdown on an 11-month-old revolt.

Foreign ministers from more than 50 countries will attend the first meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group in Tunis, amid a surge in government attacks on the city of Homs and mounting world outrage over violence that has claimed thousands of lives during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

PARIS/TUNIS (Reuters) – The main opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) will use an international meeting on the Syrian crisis to push for urgent measures to ferry humanitarian aid to stranded civilians, a move it hopes will win Russian and Chinese support.

Speaking in Paris two days before Arab and Western foreign ministers meet in Tunis, senior SNC official Basma Kodmani said the group would ask Russia to try to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to allow safe passage for humanitarian convoys, averting the need for military intervention to protect them.

PARIS (Reuters) – France called on the Syrian government to immediately halt a military onslaught on the city of Homs and allow safe access for medical aid after two journalists were killed in the opposition hotbed on Wednesday.

American correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik died when rockets fired by government forces hit the house they were staying in, and several other journalists were seriously injured.

LILLE, France (Reuters) – French far right leader Marine Le Pen switched her presidential campaign back to immigration, claiming all meat in Paris was halal, as she tries to head off President Nicolas Sarkozy’s attempts to lure her supporters.

At a weekend congress of her National Front party in the northern city of Lille, Le Pen returned to familiar anti-immigration territory, saying she had proof that all meat in Paris was halal and that she would lodge legal complaints against distributors for misleading consumers.