Devastation in Syria (Reuters)
In a startling development late on Monday, European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels were unable to overcome their bickering and division to agree on the terms of an extension of the embargo on supplying weapons to Syria's opposition rebels, which is set to expire next week on June 1. The result is that, unless a new agreement is reached, individual EU nations are now each permitted to provide weapons to opposition forces fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime.
France and Britain, with mixed support from the United States, are in favor of supplying weapons to the opposition, while Austria and other countries strongly oppose it. France and Britain put forth a compromise proposal to extend the embargo for two months, on condition that it would be partially lifted when the two months ended. They argued that the mere threat of the embargo ending would cause al-Assad to back down and stop killing innocent women and children, a claim that's really laughable. Anyway, the compromise got nowhere, and now there's no embargo at all.
Those who support supplying weapons to the opposition say that al-Assad's regime has been making significant military gains in the conflict, thanks to the use of heavy weapons supplied by Russia and Iran.
Those who oppose supplying weapons to the rebels express the fear that the weapons will end up in the hands of al-Qaeda linked terrorists, as happened in Libya. Al-Qaeda linked terrorists obtained weapons and training from the Libya military action, and are now making terror strikes on target across the "Sahel" region of Africa, including Mali and Niger.
Britain and France say that they have no immediate plans to supply arms to the rebels. Telegraph (London) and Independent (London)
28-May-13 World View -- EU lifts weapons embargo to Syria's opposition militias thread of the Generational Dynamics
