KUWAIT CITY — An Arab summit that ended Wednesday exposed cracks in what was once solid Arab support for Syrian rebels, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar divided over which factions to back and Syria’s neighbors increasingly expressing fatigue with the flood of refugees from the country’s civil war.

The Syrian opposition used the two-day gathering in Kuwait to plead for its allies to unite in helping it at a time when Assad’s forces have made gains on the ground and prospects for a negotiated settlement of the three-year-conflict have become remote.

In an emotional address, Syrian opposition leader Ahmad al-Jarba appealed for heavier weapons to be supplied to the rebels, asking Arab leaders to pressure the international community to do so.

“I don’t ask you for a declaration of war, but I ask you to support our cause and find a solution,” he said in his speech to the assembly Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Qatar of sending weapons to Islamic militant fighters who have become increasingly powerful within Syria’s rebellion, clashing with more moderate rebel factions.

One Gulf official said Qatar had ignored repeated warnings from Saudi Arabia that it was arming the “wrong people” in the conflict.


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