WASHINGTON – The State Department has been secretly  financing opponents of

Syrian President Bashar Assad, The Washington  Post reported, citing previously
undisclosed diplomatic documents  provided to the newspaper by the WikiLeaks
website.
One of the outfits funded by the U.S. is Barada TV, a  London-based satellite
channel that broadcasts anti-government news  into Syria, the Post reported
Sunday. Barada's chief editor, Malik  al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian
exile group Movement for Justice  and Development.
The leaked documents show that the U.S. has provided  at least $6 million to
Barada TV and other opposition groups inside  Syria, the newspaper said.
The Obama administration has reached out to Assad's  regime, hoping to persuade
it to change its policies regarding Israel,  Lebanon, Iraq and support for
extremist groups. In January, the U.S.  stationed an ambassador in Damascus, the
capital, for the first time in  five years.
The Post said it was not clear from the WikiLeaks  documents whether the U.S.
was still financing Assad's opponents, though  they showed funding had been set
aside through September 2010.
Syrian activists have been staging protests against  Assad's authoritarian
regime for more than a month. More than 200 people  have been killed as security
forces tried to crush the protests.
On Sunday, gunmen opened fire during a funeral for a  slain anti-government
protester, killing at least three people,  according to witnesses and activists.
Tens of thousands of Syrians took  to the streets nationwide despite Assad's
promise to end nearly 50 years  of emergency rule this week, a key demand of the
protesters.
Last week, the State Department said Iran appeared to  be helping Syria crack
down on protesters, calling it a troubling  example of Iranian meddling in the
region.
"If Syria's turning to Iran for help, it can't be very serious about real
reform," spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.