WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — President Barack Obama says he’ll work with Congress to increase support for members of the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and to Syrian President Bashar Assad (bah-SHAR’ AH’-sahd).

Obama is calling on Congress to support a $5 billion counterterrorism fund that would help support Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. All those countries have Syrian refugees and they’re confronting terrorists working across Syria’s borders.

Obama also used a speech Wednesday at the U.S. Military Academy to reaffirm his decision not to put American troops in the middle of the Syrian civil war.

The conflict is now in its fourth year. More than 162,000 people have been killed and one-third of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million has been displaced.

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