UK FM: ‘EU to discuss easing Syria arms ban’

British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the European Union will examine easing an arms embargo on Syrian anti-government militants in the coming weeks.

“This is a discussion we have to have in the EU over the next six weeks. We and France have said there will be a strong case for lifting the embargo, amending the embargo,” Hague told reporters at a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” in Istanbul.

The British secretary claimed that the militants have given the participants in the meeting their commitment toward a democratic solution in the Middle Eastern country and condemn extremism.

Hague, however, did not explain the paradox how arming Syrian terrorists can help a democratic anti-extremist solution in the country.

The Syrian government says Britain and its western allies are secretly arming the militants in a bid to topple the legal government of president Bashar al-Asad in the country.

Meanwhile, there have been frequent reports in the media of foreign nationals fighting along with Syrian terrorists.

Earlier in March, Britain and France, which are leading efforts within the EU to lift the arms embargo on Syrian militants, suggested that they will act alone if the union does not move to take collective action on supplying weapons to the terrorists.

This comes as the French newspaper Le Figaru quoted French military sources in early March as saying that the US, Britain and French special forces have been covertly training Syrian terrorists at a military base north of the Jordanian capital of Amman for the past months.

There are also reports that Britain is operating spies and special forces inside Syria.