AP LONDON NATIONS including Britain, the United States and Turkey on Thursday were considering what action to take against Syria over its violent assaults on regime opponents.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said the talks were taking place in the margins as about 50 nations and organisations gathered in London for a summit on Somalia.

“I’ll be discussing today with (U.S. Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton and many of the Arab League leaders what we can achieve,” Hague told BBC radio ahead of the meting.

Officials said about 10 countries would be involved in discussions on Syria, mulling the possible international response to President Bashar Assad’s bloody suppression of the nearly yearold uprising against his regime. The talks follow the deaths on Wednesday of veteran American-born war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik amid siege-style attacks on the city of Homs.

Clinton and Hague will travel from the London talks to join a major meeting in Tunis on Friday when about 70 nations will examine ways to assist Assad’s opponents, who now include defected military officers and soldiers.

“It is a deeply frustrating situation,” Hague told BBC radio. He said that the Assad regime “has continued to act seemingly with impunity.” However, Hague said that military intervention was very unlikely, as “the consequences of any outside intervention are much harder to foresee.”