EU arms embargo lift ‘too little, too late,’ says Syrian opposition
ISTANBUL: Syria's opposition yesterday denounced as “too little, too late” an EU decision to lift an arms embargo on rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad.
“Definitely it is a positive step, but we are afraid it could be too little, too late,” Louay Safi, spokesman for Syria's main opposition National Coalition, told AFP.
The European Union agreed yesterday to lift its embargo against arming Syria's rebels, but no member state intends to send any arms in the coming months for fear of endangering a US-Russian peace initiative dubbed Geneva 2.
A French official in Paris stressed that “this is a theoretical lifting of the embargo. In concrete terms, there will be no decision on any deliveries before Aug. 1”.
“The Syrian people are disappointed. They thought that democracies care about those who seek democracy,” Safi said at an opposition meeting in Istanbul that has been stalled by divisions.
“We need to provide protection for civilians, for the Syrian people. Weapons would be one element but also we would like to have a more serious position taken, a firm decision taken by the European Union,” he added.
A rebel spokesman inside Syria also lashed out against the EU decision. “Why wait until August? Why wait another two months? So that the Syrian people continue to be subjected to genocide?” Qassem Saadeddine told AFP by telephone.
“We need anti-aircraft rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles,” he added.
Russia, which has supported Assad, said the EU's decision to lift the arms embargo on the rebels “directly harms” the prospects of convening a conference on the Syrian crisis.
Meanwhile, at least 15 prisoners were killed over the weekend in clashes between rebels and troops at the central prison in Syria's northern town of Aleppo, a watchdog said yesterday.
Citing phone calls from sources inside the prison, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “at least 15 prisoners were killed in shelling of the prison, which rebel fighters have besieged.”