WORLD_ Syria: Britain in last ditch bid to persuade EU to relax arms embargo to rebels

Syria: Britain in last ditch bid to persuade EU to relax arms embargo to rebels

Britain will on Sunday make a fresh attempt to persuade the European Union to relax its arms embargo on Syrian rebels, after President Bashar al-Assad's forces looked set for a key battlefield victory that could turn the war in their favour.

By Phoebe Greenwood, Jerusalem
5:22PM BST 25 May 2013


William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, will meet with European ministers in a bid to resolve a long-running dispute over whether arming anti-Assad forces would hasten the war's end or simply prolong it.

The meeting in Brussels comes amid growing signs that President Assad is now regaining the upper hand in the two-year-long civil war. On Saturday, his troops were engaged in a fierce battle for the strategic port town of Qusair, which sits on a critical supply route for rebel fighters to the Lebanese border just six miles away.

Mr Hague, who fears that the EU's reluctance to arm the rebels has handed the initiative to their Islamist allies, has already warned that Britain will use its power of veto to block the renewal of the embargo this week if needs be. Less hawkish European nations, such as Austria, say that could wreck any chances of a peace deal.

"We want to see the amending of the arms embargo in a way that opens up the possibility of a wider range of supplies, including lethal supplies, to the [Syrian] national coalition," Mr Hague said. He added: "Ultimately if we cannot agree on EU policy, there will be no EU policy."

In Qusair, residents reported that government troops, backed by Hizbollah fighters, had launched a fierce barrage of artillery, rockets and tank shells on the city from three positions. One witness said he had never seen an assault like it – "It's like they're trying to destroy the city house by house."


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Rebels, however, were putting up stiff resistance, according to a Hizbollah fighter, who described it was a "slow and difficult" job to retake the city. "The rebels have mined everything, the streets, the houses," he said. "Even the refrigerators are mined."

Western diplomats say the fighting in Qusair has underlined the need for a solution to conflict, which is now estimated to have cost some 80,000 lives. They are particularly alarmed at the lead that Lebanese Hizbollah fighters are now playing in supporting Mr Assad's troops, which they say increases the chances of the war spilling over into Lebanon itself.

European ministers have until the end of this month to decide whether they will renew their arms embargo on Syria, which blocks the transfer of weapons to both regime and rebel forces. The UK and France are at loggerheads with EU states led by Austria and the Scandinavian nations, who refuse to allow the arming of Syrian National Coalition fighters.

Michael Spindelegger, Austria's foreign minister, reiterated his position on Friday that the arming of rebels would endanger Austrian peace-keeping forces in the Golan Heights area between Syria and Israel. "We believe there are enough weapons in Syria," he said. "We support a cease-fire, not weapons deliveries".

The EU's diplomatic service, headed by Baroness Ashton, is also cautioning against "any counter-productive move" that could hamper current Russia-US efforts to relaunch peace talks in Geneva, expected to take place next month.

In a note to her office weeks ago, London and Paris argued that lifting the arms embargo against the opposition would put pressure on Mr Assad to find a political settlement, rather than aggravate the conflict.

But EU officials close to the debate insisted that that approach was "simply naive". "The only threat capable of scaring Assad would be for Moscow or Tehran to threaten to cut off assistance," one official said.

Meanwhile, the opposition movement also looks to be crumbling politically. Internal friction between the assorted rebel groups, including jihadist elements and the Al Qaeda-allied al-Nusra Front, coupled with allegations of widespread atrocities, have undermined international support.

Russia announced on Friday that the Assad regime had in principle agreed attend the Geneva conference to find a diplomatic solution to the bloody conflict.

But much to the frustration of London and Washington, three days of negotiations in Istanbul last week failed to produce a non-Islamist leadership to represent the Syrian National Coalition in Geneva. As such, the rebels' Western supporters have been left without a legitimate opposition figure to rally behind.

"The coalition risks undermining itself to the point that its backers may have to look quickly for an alternative with enough credibility on the ground to go to Geneva," a senior figure within the Syrian opposition said.

Doubts also persist about whether the Geneva conference will achieve anything. The Syrian opposition is deeply suspicious about Mr Assad's intention to hold serious peace talks, and senior opposition figures have ruled out attendance unless the Syrian president's departure tops the talks' agenda.




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