Arriving in London today on the first leg of a tour of the region, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she believed that the Syrian rebels would be able to arm themselves better in the future, predicting “increasingly capable” forces who would find arms “somewhere.”

 

Clinton’s comments come just days after other State Department officials said the option of directly arming the rebels was being considered, if Assad continued to refuse US demands for him to resign.

Clinton said today that she has “absolutely no doubt” that the Assad regime would eventually fall, but expressed hope that it would happen soon because “more lives would be saved” that way.

 

The rebels already have considerable arms, of course, as they include a significant force of defectors from the Assad-backed military.