UK doubles aid to Syria opposition groups

He said the extra £500,000 will help groups both inside and outside Syria.Mr Hague used his annual Mansion House speech in the City of London to urge President Assad to accept he has no hope of political survival. The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed during a year-long Syrian revolt.The foreign secretary is working to boost Syrias opposition at a moment when new diplomacy offers hope - however uncertain - that President Assad may be pushed into change.Mr Hague told his audience, including dozens of foreign ambassadors in London, that the UK will give opposition groups extra help worth £500,000.It will include more training for activists and citizen journalists to help them get their stories out of Syria, and possibly secure phones to make the co-ordination of protest safer.Civil society groups will also be given more assistance gathering evidence of atrocities for possible future trials. Mr Hague warned the regime its reliance on violence was not only morally indefensible, it was futile.