Oops!!! Anglo-French plan to arm Syrian rebels meets wall of resistance at EU summit

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/15/plan-arm-syrian-rebels-eu
<snip>
The sudden Anglo-French move to overturn a European arms embargo on Syria in order to equip the rebels seeking to overthrow the Assad regime has run into a solid wall of resistance at an EU summit, with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, dismissing the policy U-turn and others warning of a regional conflagration from which Iran would emerge the winner.

Following the summit, the prime minister toned down his enthusiasm for arming the Syrian opposition, saying that he wanted the arms embargo lifted but did not necessarily want to deliver arms to anti-regime forces two years into the civil war.

David Cameron and the French president, François Hollande, had forced the issue on to the agenda of Friday's summit, on the second anniversary of the uprising. Other participants, who were not informed of the abrupt policy shift, were stunned at the attempt to overturn EU decisions on the sanctions regime against Syria agreed only a fortnight ago.

[samsingh]

1. not sure what the rebels are like either - could they be more militant than those they are fighting?

[malaise]

2. Of course - they're mostly AQ mercenaries

[samsingh]

4. that's scary

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Good. There's already more than enough kerosene on that fire.