EU lifts arms embargo for Syrian rebels

The European Union on Tuesday lifted an arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, but said it had no immediate plans to deliver military equipment to the forces locked in a bloody civil war with the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Tonight EU nations agreed to bring the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition to an end,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement, adding that it was a  “difficult decision for some countries,” only a few months after the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize.

All other EU sanctions on the Assad regime will remain in place.

“It was important for Europe to send a clear signal to the Assad regime that it has to negotiate seriously, and that all options remain on the table if it refuses to do so. Tonight EU nations have done just that,” Hague said.

Hague and other European leaders repeated that they would not proceed at this stage with the delivery of weapons, as diplomats scrambled to find a peaceful end to the 26-month-old conflict.

“I have not detected any readiness from anyone at this time to contemplate that particular option,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in reference to supplying the opposition with military equipment.

Britain and France, the EU's biggest military powers, had been pushing the bloc to lift its embargo on delivery of weapons into Syria to help the opposition. But the Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army fighting Assad have struggled with internal divisions and inspired little confidence in potential European partners.

In August of last year the UN said Syrian opposition forces had also committed war crimes, including murder and torture, even if abuses were not of the same gravity, frequency and scale as those committed by Assad’s regime.

The EU said it would review its position on the arms embargo to opposition forces before August after scheduled discussions with the UN Secretary General and based on the developments of an ongoing joint US-Russia initiative for peace talks.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20130528-eu-lifts-arms-embargo-syria-opposition-rebels-diplomacy-hague