British PM David Cameron says he is “as worried as anyone” about terrorist and extremist elements among opposition forces fighting to oust Bashar Assad in Syria, and no decision has been made on arming the Syrian opposition.

The Prime Minister David Cameron was speaking ahead of the opening of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, which looks set to be dominated by international tensions over Syria.

The leaders of the world’s most powerful countries come together today in Northern Ireland.

US president Barack Obama has arrived at Belfast International Airport in Air Force One, with his wife Michelle and their two daughters Malia and Sasha.

He is addressing 2,000 students in Belfast this morning before meeting his counterparts.

Their audience has been described as “the generation of peace” – young people born after the ceasefires.

The First Family was welcomed by Hannah Nelson, 16, a student from Methodist College, Belfast, whose essay on “making peace permanent” impressed the US Consulate in the city.

The ongoing conflict in Syria threatens to overshadow the summit’s scheduled discussions on trade, tax and transparency, after US President Barack Obama announced he was ready to start supplying weapons to the rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al Assad.

Prime Minister David Cameron has arrived in Northern Ireland to receive other world leaders at the summit.

Speaking at Lough Erne, Mr Cameron said: “Let’s be clear – I am as worried as anybody else about elements of the Syrian opposition, who are extremists, who support terrorism and who are a great danger to our world.

“The question is what do we do about it? My argument is that we shouldn’t accept that the only alternative to Assad is terrorism and violence.

“We should be on the side of Syrians who want a democratic and peaceful future for their country and one without the man who is currently using chemical weapons against them.

“What we can try and do here at the G8 is have further pressure for the peace conference and the transition that is needed to bring this conflict to an end.”

The challenges posed by another conflict are expected to dominate the summit in County Fermanagh.

Mr Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in London yesterday to discuss the crisis in Syria, but appeared to have reached little common ground.

At a joint news conference, Mr Cameron acknowledged there were “big differences” between the two leaders on who was to blame for the conflict but insisted they could be overcome.

Mr Putin strongly defended the supply of arms by Moscow to Mr Assad’s “legitimate” government, but also stressed he wanted to achieve a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

He said he believed the G8 summit  is “one of the most appropriate means” to seek an end to the conflict.

When Mr Putin was asked by British journalists about comments by Mr Cameron last year – that those supporting President Assad had the blood of Syrian children on their hands – he reacted angrily.

He said: “One does not need to support people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras. Are these the people you want to support?

“Is it them you want to supply with weapons? Then this probably has little relation to humanitarian values that have been preached in Europe for hundreds of years.”

Mr Putin and Mr Obama will hold a separate bilateral meeting at the Lough Erne resort.

Mr Cameron is hosting both presidents and the political leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan at the plush golfing venue.

The summit is taking place amid a security operation of unprecedented scale, with some 8,000 police officers – 3,600 of them borrowed from forces in England, Scotland and Wales – on patrol.

Vehicle checkpoints are back on the streets, there is a no-fly-zone over the venue and an “armada” of security vessels is patrolling a secure stretch of Lough Erne.

Police have warned of significant disruption. Eight world leaders and their entourages will be on the move. Some 8,000 students sitting exams were advised to travel to school early.

With Mr Obama engaged in the serious business of world politics, the First Lady and their daughters will pay private visits to Dublin and Wicklow.

Two years ago, the president and his wife went to Moneygall in County Offaly, from where his great, great, great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated in 1850 before settling in Indiana.

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