White House spokesman Jay Carney offered a flummoxing answer Friday when a reporter asked how involved U.S. officials have become in training rebels who are fighting military forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“We have always been clear that our nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition includes equipment and training to build a capacity of civilian activists, and to link Syrian citizens with the Syrian Opposition Coalition and local coordinating councils,” Mr. Carney said.Pressed for a clarification “in English,” Mr. Carney responded with a reworded version of the same talking point while adding: “I don’t have anything for you.”

The exchange was an example of what several foreign policy insiders tell The Washington Times has become a concerted White House effort to avoid taking a clear position on U.S. policy toward Syria’s 2-year-old civil war.”Obama does not want to lead on Syria,” said Joshua Landis, who heads the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and edits the Syria Comment blog.

“He doesn’t want to get into mission creep and is trying to avoid spending a lot of money,” said Mr. Landis, who believes Mr. Obama’s assessment is rooted in the notion that Syria is “already broken” and “once you take leadership, you own it.”