American officials held a meeting with exiled Syrian opposition figures in Washington to review means of "weakening the Syrian regime," a London-based newspaper reported on Saturday.
Asharq Al-Awsat said US officials who attended the meeting on Thursday included Elizabeth Cheney, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and John Hanna, an official in the office of her father, Vice President Dick Cheney.
The report said Elizabeth Cheney's office confirmed the meeting, which was also attended by Pentagon and National Security Council officials.
Participants on the Syrian side included Farid al-Ghadri, a US-based businessman who heads the Reform Party of Syria, Zuhdi al-Jasser, Mohammad Khawam, Muwaffak Bunni al-Marjeh, Hussam al-Dairi, Salma al-Dairi and writer Bassam Darwish.
Asharq Al-Awsat added the dissidents lobbied for a policy of regime change in Syria, whereas the administration officials focused on ways of weakening Assad's government.
