France and Britain are prepared to arm Syrian militants even without unanimous EU support, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday.
France and Britain are prepared to arm Syrian militants even without unanimous EU support, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday.
Fabius pointed out that Paris and London will call for moving up the date of the next European Union meeting on the Syria arms embargo, indicating that the two countries will decide to arm the rebels even if the 27-member EU does not give unanimous agreement.
France and Britain ask "the Europeans now to lift the embargo so that the resistance fighters have the possibility of defending themselves," he told France Info radio.
“If unanimous EU support for lifting the measure is lacking, the French and British governments will decide to deliver weapons,” he added, considering that “France is a sovereign nation."
"We must move quickly… and we along with the British will ask for the meeting to be moved up," Fabius said.
Prime Minister David Cameron had said Tuesday that “Britain would consider ignoring an EU arms ban and supplying weapons to Syrian rebels if it would help topple President Bashar Al-Assad.