France, UK: lift arms ban for Syria

(Vatican Radio) France and Britain found little support on Friday among the European Union governments for their proposal to lift an arms embargo and allow weapons supplies to Syrian opposition groups.

At an EU summit in Brussels, French President Francois Hollande, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, pressed for the embargo to be lifted, saying Europe could not allow the Syrian people to be massacred.

At a press conference, Hollande said he received guarantees from the Syrian opposition that any arms delivered to them would end up in the right hands.

“The greater risk would be to do nothing,” he said, and to let Assad continue to kill his people and desperate groups to find refuge in terrorism.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said lifting the embargo would only lead Assad's allies, Russia and Iran, to step up arms supplies.

Merkel told a press conference that just because Britain and France want to drop the ban, that doesn’t mean 25 other states have to follow suit.

In the past two years, about 70,000 Syrians have been killed in the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

EU foreign ministers are expected to consider this issue again next week.

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