U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul on Saturday (April 20) where he was scheduled to attend a Friends of Syria meeting.

International powers will search for a peaceful settlement to Syria's civil war with fresh urgency after a rebel faction aligned itself with al Qaeda, diplomats and opposition.

Kerry is expected to announce a new aid package, which would mark a recalibration of U.S. policy toward rebel groups in the Syrian civil war.

The United States plans to provide about 100 million U.S. dollars in new non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition that could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armour and night-goggles.

The new assistance would still stop short of supplying weapons to insurgents fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is also far less than what is being sought by Syrian opposition leaders, U.S. allies like Britain and France and some U. S. lawmakers.