Hollande urges EU to officially allow arms flows into Syria
Iran Press TV
Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:28PM GMT
French President Francois Hollande has called on European leaders to start officially arming Syria militants by removing bans on flow of weapons into the violence-wracked country.
"We want Europeans to lift the arms embargo.... We are ready to support the rebellion, so we are ready to go this far. We must take our responsibilities," Hollande said on Thursday, in reference to the current European Union (EU) sanctions on sending arms to Syria.
He made the call after he arrived to attend a two-day EU summit in Brussels, although the issue was not on the agenda for the meeting.
On February 28, EU foreign ministers last extended the embargo for three months. The sanctions are, however, always up for review by the bloc’s member states.
The UK has also expressed support for lifting the arms embargo.
Several European countries have disagreed with the move, warning that increasing the number of weapons on the ground will intensify the Syrian conflict.
“International law does not allow, does not permit supplies of arms to non-governmental actors and in our point of view it is a violation of international law,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Britain and France will ask for an immediate lifting of the embargo, and made it clear that they will arm the militants even if an agreement is not reached with other EU nations.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
MRS/JR/SS
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