So I expressed my thanks for Turkey hosting the next "Friends of Syria" meeting.
Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Friends of Syria were determined to "ramp up" assistance to the opposition.
The second meeting of the Friends of Syria faces a more daunting crisis.
However, at a recent Friends of Syria meeting in Rome, Foreign Secretary William Hague said military aid was possible in the future.
There is a broad coalition of friends of Syria that extends around the globe and includes nations in the region.
The SNC was the only opposition body represented at the first Friends of Syria conference, held last month in Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said that efforts were continuing to put together a "friends of Syria" group of countries.
The National Coalition will also boycott the Rome meeting of the mainly Western Friends of Syria group, which supports the opposition.
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We continue to work with our international partners, including the "Friends of Syria, " to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.
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We are pursuing a path with the "Friends of Syria" that we hope will bring a political resolution to the situation there.
The Friends of Syria session is taking place in Istanbul more than a month after a similar meeting was held in Tunisia.
And I say "we" in the sense of speaking more broadly about the "Friends of Syria" who have participated in this effort.
Tomorrow, Deputy Secretary of State Burns will attend the Friends of Syria -- Friends of the Syrian People meeting in Morocco.
But since the Friends of Syria met in Tunis in February, "there has been a steady march toward ending this regime, " Clinton said.
And we're also going to continue our efforts through the "Friends of Syria" group to provide assistance to the Syrian opposition, to help them coalesce.
Addressing the Friends of Syria meeting, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday that the UK did "not rule out any option to save lives".
Yesterday you talked about the "Friends of Syria" meeting that would be convened February 24th, in Tunisia, and then the President spoke with Prime Minister Cameron yesterday.
"The window of opportunity for the regime to implement its commitments to Joint Special Envoy Annan is not open-ended, " the "Friends of Syria" said in a statement.
So we are continuing to engage with our international partners in different forums -- the United Nations, the "Friends of Syria" and elsewhere -- to isolate and pressure Assad.
So we will continue to watch very closely what Assad does, and work with our allies through the "Friends of Syria" to continue to put pressure on that regime.
And we call on every nation of the world to join with the "Friends of Syria" to take action to prevent further brutality and further murder of Syrian people.
We are regularly consulting with our allies and partners around the world, with members of the Security Council and the broader "Friends of Syria" group, about potential next steps.
The Friends of Syria recognition, however, did little to soothe opposition leaders stung by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision Tuesday to list one rebel group as a terrorist organization.
Meetings in Istanbul between exile opposition groups aim to find common ground before the upcoming Friends of Syria conference, which will bring representatives of many countries to Turkey on Sunday.
"After discussions with coalition leaders and various calls, the coalition leadership has decided to stop the suspension of the visit to the Friends of Syria conference in Rome, " the statement said.
You were talking about the "Friends of Syria" meeting that will happen later this week, and part of the goal is making the opposition more "functional" is the word you used.
Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN's "The Situation Room" that the United States will push other approaches to the conflict, including through the Friends of Syria Group.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking after meeting opposition leaders at a Friends of Syria conference in Rome, said the aid would help fighters in their effort to topple al-Assad.
But we continue to work through the Friends of Syria and with our other international partners to pressure Assad to assist the people of Syria and the opposition, and that work continues.
But the Coalition leadership went further, and announced that participation in the Friends of Syria meeting in Rome, and Mr Khatib's proposed visits to both Moscow and Washington, were being called off.
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