LONDON â€" Britain and France are putting pressure on their European partners to lift an embargo on weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in a conflict that has claimed 70,000 lives and created one million refugees.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has said his government might veto an extension of the European embargo when it comes up for renewal in May.
“I hope that we can persuade our European partners,†he told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. “But if we can’t, then it’s not out of the question we might have to do things in our own way.â€
His remarks came as Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, called for the European Union to rethink a weapons ban that he said favored the Damascus rgime, which continued to receive powerful weaponry from Russia and Iran.
“We understand the idea of not adding weapons to weapons,†Mr. Fabius told a parliamentary committee. “But that position doesn’t work in the face of reality, and that is that the opposition is bombarded by others who are getting weapons while they are not.â€
The stance of the Continent’s two biggest military powers reflected frustration at the failure to find a diplomatic solution to the two-year civil conflict.
However, it has prompted concerns from some European partners about the wisdom of sending weapons to a volatile region that could end up in the hands of anti-Western jihadists.
Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, said during a visit to London last week that the decision so far not to lift the embargo was wise and right. “We have to avoid a conflagration in the whole region! ,†he said.
Mr. Cameron’s signal that Britain was prepared to go it alone with arms supplies to the rebels came on the eve of an Anglo-Russian strategic dialogue in London on Wednesday that was to include discussion of the Syrian crisis.
The British and other Western governments have criticized Moscow for supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and failing to push him toward a negotiated settlement.
Ahead of the London talks, however, the Russians have hinted they might be prepared to halt their own weapons supplies to the regime if there were a similar ban on sending arms to the rebels.
The key figure on the Russian side at Wednesday’s London talks is Sergey V. Lavrov, the foreign minister, who reiterated in an interview with the BBC last week that there was no question of oscow pressing Mr. Assad to step down.
Voice of Russia radio, in its report of the interview, highlighted Mr. Lavrov’s offer to consider an arms embargo on Syria if it were told what steps would be taken to suppress weapons supplies to the opposition.
That theoretically leaves open the prospect of a compromise at Wednesday’s talks, which are intended to underline a thaw in the previously troubled relations between London and Moscow.
If the Russians could be persuaded to distance themselves further from Mr. Assad, the British might step back from their apparent readiness to arm the rebels.
Charles Glass, a commentator on the Middle East, suggested in a recent column in The Guardian that rather than lifting the U.S.-European arms embargo on Syria, it would be bette! r to ask ! Russia and Iran to join it.
“The rebels’ own hands â€" as in any war â€" are not without blemish,†he wrote. “The victims of lethal and non-lethal aid to government and rebels alike are the Syrian people.â€
Despite the daily reports from Syria recounting the worsening plight of civilians, there seems to be little public appetite in Europe for a deeper involvement in the conflict.
Jean Asselborn, the Luxembourg foreign minister, appeared to sum up a widely held view in Europe when he said this week: “Weapons are what is least needed in Syria.â€
Do you agree with Mr. Asselborn Or are the French and British right to press for arming the opposition in order to redress the imbalance between government and rebel forces
Are there alternative strategies to ending the plight of the Syrian people Let us kow your views.
