MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The United States ramped up its support for Syria's opposition with a pledge of nearly $100 million in fresh aid on Saturday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's top diplomat described the timing of the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the withdrawal of foreign fighters as top sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.

Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the additional assistance at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Gulf island nation of Bahrain, where discussion of Syria dominated the gathering of mostly Western and Arab officials.

The American promise of cash, which it says brings to nearly $500 million the amount it has pledged to the opposition since 2012, came a day after the U.S. announced it was intensifying its fight against the Islamic State group in Syria with the deployment of up to 50 special operations troops.

It also coincided with the completion of international talks in Vienna to pursue a new peace effort involving Syria's Iranian-backed government and opposition groups. The negotiations left open the thorny question of when Assad might leave power, and it was unclear whether he or disparate rebel groups fighting to topple him would sign on to any peace proposal.

A new round of talks was expected to take place within two weeks.

The new U.S. funds will support local and provincial councils, civil society activists, emergency services and other needs on the ground inside Syria.

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Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir addresses delegates at an international …

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told delegates gathered under tight security at a Bahraini luxury waterfront hotel that the timing of Assad's departure and the withdrawal of foreign fighters remain the main sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the fact that the talks in Vienna included regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran was an achievement in itself.

But Al-Jubeir, who arrived from Vienna overnight, seemed to downplay the significance of what had been accomplished, declaring in Bahrain, "We have not been able to reach agreement."

He said the oil-rich kingdom's policy toward Syria has not changed, and that it would continue to support what he called the moderate Syrian opposition.

He described the presence of foreign forces, particularly Iranian troops, as a roadblock to ending the fighting in a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced 11 million from their homes.

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A delegate attends an international security summit in Manama, Bahrain, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. Sen …

Shiite powerhouse Iran, like Russia, is a longtime ally of Syria. The Islamic Republic has given Assad's government billions of dollars in aid and large amounts of weapons since fighting began.

Iran has deployed what it says are military advisers to support the government and has had casualties in the conflict, though it denies the presence of Iranian combat troops in Syria.

Pro-Iranian fighters from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan also have traveled to Syria to fight alongside Assad's forces.

Al-Jubeir also made clear that the negotiations had done nothing to change Saudi Arabia's position that Assad must go.

"Ideally he should leave this afternoon. The sooner the better," al-Jubeir said.

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US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of an …

Blinken was less blunt when it came to a timetable for Assad's departure.

He suggested that Russia's military intervention in Syria, though widely seen as a strong sign of support for Assad, could end up incentivizing Moscow to work toward a political transition that removes him from power.

Russia began conducting airstrikes in Syria in late September that benefit Assad's forces, though it has also said it is ready to aid rebel groups that are fighting the Islamic State group.

"Russia cannot afford to sustain its military onslaught against everyone opposed to Assad's brutal rule. The costs will mount every day in economic, political, and security terms — but at best only to prevent Assad from losing," Blinken said.

He predicted a "quagmire" that draws Russia deeper into a conflict alongside Syria's allies Iran and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, and which alienates Sunni Muslims both in the region and in Russia itself.

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Earlier today, ISIS claimed responsibility for the downing of a commercial airliner over the Sinai Peninsula.

The crash killed all 224 people on board.

Islamic State described the passengers as “crusaders” and “praised God” for their deaths:

As we noted earlier, the question now is whether Russia will expand its Mid-East operations and commence airstrikes in Egypt because one thing is clear: if the Russian population had any qualms about continuing the campaign against "terrorists", they were just eliminated in perpetuity.

As for figuring out exactly what went wrong with the Airbus A321 that crashed this morning, don't worry, John Kerry will soon get to the bottom of things:

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White House: US Commandos Heading Into Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even when President Barack Obama sent U.S. troops back to Iraq and ordered the military to stay in Afghanistan, he insisted Syria would remain off limits for American ground forces. Now he's crossed his own red line.

Obama's announcement Friday that he was deploying up to 50 U.S. special operations troops into northern Syria to assist in the fight against the Islamic State group is the kind of incremental move that has defined his second-term Mideast strategy.

The U.S. military footprint in the region is growing. But each step is on a small scale, so as to reassure Americans that Obama isn't plunging their country into another large, open-ended conflict.

While the strategy may help ease them back into the realities of war, experts and some of Obama's political allies say his slow ramp-up may not be enough to defeat the fast-moving militants.

"Deploying a handful of U.S. special operations forces to Syria will not change this situation significantly," said Frederic Hof, Obama's former Syria special adviser. "It is a Band-Aid of sorts."

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the latest escalation "is unlikely to succeed in achieving our objective of defeating IS and instead threatens to embroil the United States in Syria's civil war."

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In this Oct. 27, 2015, photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the 122nd International Association o …

The military campaign against IS is nowhere near the size and scope of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama repeatedly has used the costly and unpopular Iraq War as an example of what he's tried to avoid.

But it was the location, not the number, that elevated the significance of his Syrian decision. It was the first time the U.S. has openly sent forces into Syria, expanding the geographic reach of Obama's military efforts in the Middle East.

For years, the president has said Syria was precisely the kind of situation he was elected to keep the U.S. military from. Washington has no partners in the Syrian government and few good options among opposition leaders. There is no ground force that the U.S. can quickly train.

But the crisis has become unavoidable for Obama, particularly since IS crossed the border into Iraq. A civil war that Obama once could pin on Syrians to settle has now threatened to upend the entire region.

Obama's first move was to send a few hundred U.S. troops to Iraq to train and assist local forces fighting IS. That was a return to Iraq for the U.S. military after the 2011 withdrawal, which was a fulfillment of Obama's campaign promise to end the war he inherited from President George W. Bush.

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White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady …

But over the past year, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has expanded to about 3,300. Also, the U.S. began airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.

Despite killing as many as 12,000 militants, the bombing has not significantly weakened the IS' capacity to hold territory, and foreign fighters and others have replenished the group's ranks.

Obama had hoped a ground force trained by Americans elsewhere in the region would have complemented the strikes in Syria. But the train-and-equip program failed; Obama abandoned it this fall.

The new U.S. deployment into Syria essentially replaces that effort.

The decision allows Obama, under pressure by the Pentagon and international partners to make progress against IS, to make the case that he's trying new ways to address the crisis. The White House contends Obama isn't backtracking on his commitment to keep U.S. troops out of Syria because the new military presence is narrow.

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FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, sho …

But to some, the White House appears to be more concerned about being able to keep that political promise than in taking more substantial action to resolve the situation.

"War has a harsh reality in that in order to have an effect you have to be present," said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy flight officer and the director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security.

The White House put no timetable on how long the American forces will stay. Obama has said he expects the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria to last beyond his presidency.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday he wasn't ruling out a further U.S. escalation of the fight and that he couldn't predict the future.

Only two weeks ago, Obama said he was reversing course and keeping American troops in Afghanistan beyond next year.

That means the president who inherited two military conflicts will likely hand his successor three.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace has covered the White House for the AP since 2009. Follow her at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

An AP News Analysis