“European Union governments gave the go-ahead for weapons sales to the Syrian opposition, seeking to increase pressure on Bashar al-Assad’s regime after two years of civil war.
The U.K., the prime mover behind the EU decision, said it wouldn’t immediately start to supply the rebels with arms and that other economic sanctions will be prolonged by 12 months.
“It was a difficult decision for some countries, but it was necessary and right to reinforce international efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria,” U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement late yesterday after 13 hours of wrangling among foreign ministers in Brussels. “It was important for Europe to send a clear signal to the Assad regime that it has to negotiate seriously, and that all options remain on the table if it refuses to do so.”
Also backed by France, the arms-sales authorization was intended to narrow the options of Assad, who has clung to power throughout the civil war that has claimed at least 80,000 lives and flooded neighboring countries with refugees.
Austria led the resistance to a change in European policy, saying that sending military hardware would undermine efforts to promote a negotiated solution and betray the principles that earned the EU the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
“We just won the peace prize,” Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said. “The people in Syria being killed in this conflict wouldn’t benefit if we ship weapons. It would result in an arms race.”
