EU arms embargo on Syria militants over: Hague

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said the expiry of the European Union’s arms embargo on Syria effectively ends the arms embargo on the foreign-sponsored militants operating in the country.

On Monday, Hague said that European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels reached an agreement to lift the arms embargo on militants in Syria but to maintain other sanctions on Syria.

However, Hague stressed that Britain had “no immediate” plans to provide weapons to the militants.

“While we have no immediate plans to send arms to Syria, it gives us the flexibility to respond in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate and worsen,” Hague said.

“This is the outcome that the United Kingdom wanted,” he added.

The agreement allows individual EU members to provide weapons to the militants operating in Syria.

Britain and France had backed the proposal to send weapons to the militants but other countries, like Austria, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic, opposed the move.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, “Member states will not proceed at this stage with the delivery” of equipment that has until now been subject to the ban.

Commenting on the US-Russia peace initiative, she stated that the EU’s foreign affairs council would review this position before August 1.

“I regret that after long talks it was not possible to find a compromise with the UK and France,” Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said after the talks.

The Syria crisis began in mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence, and several international human rights organizations say the foreign-sponsored militants have committed war crimes.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.