France mulls supplying arms to Syrian opposition

PanARMENIAN.Net - France's Foreign Minister has said he will discuss supplying arms to the Syrian opposition coalition with European partners, according to BBC News.

The government plans to push for a relaxation of the EU arms embargo to Syria to enable "defensive arms" to reach opposition fighters.

France is the first Western power to recognize the coalition as the Syrian people's legitimate representative. Coalition representatives are due to hold meetings in London and Paris.

Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March 2011.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his country was wary of pouring more weapons into the country but that there was a danger of leaving areas under opposition control open to attack from Syrian armed forces.

"For the moment, there is an embargo, so there are no arms being delivered from the European side. The issue... will no doubt be raised for defensive arms," Fabius told France's RTL radio.

"The issue will be raised because the [opposition] coalition has asked us to do so," Fabius said, adding that "this is something that we can only do in co-ordination with the Europeans".

He said that Paris was still talking to Moscow and the UN Special Envoy to the country, Lakhdar Brahimi, about a solution.

The French president's office said Francois Hollande would meet the head of the Syrian opposition coalition, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, in Paris on Saturday, a day after the Syrian opposition leaders are scheduled to meet British Foreign Secretary William Hague in London.