Workers unloading humanitarian aid sent from Russia to the Syrian government yesterday. Two planes loaded with 30 tonnes of aid arrived at Al Bassel Airport in Lattakia City.
DAMASCUS: Syria’s opposition reacted cautiously yesterdya to an EU decision ending an arms embargo on rebels, as fighting spilled over the border into Lebanon, where three soldiers were shot dead overnight.
“Definitely it is a positive step, but we are afraid it could be too little, too late. The Syrian people are disappointed. They thought that democracies care about those who seek democracy,” Louay Safi, a spokesman for Syria’s main opposition National Coalition, said on the sidelines of an opposition meeting in Istanbul that has been stalled by internal 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.”
The European Union agreed on Monday to lift the embargo, but no member state intends to send any weapons immediately for fear of endangering the prospects of a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 that Russia and the United States are trying to organise as early as next month.
Britain and France pushed for the move, while Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden were reticent about more arms pouring into a conflict that has already cost some 94,000 lives. The final decision is up to each member nation whether to supply arms to the rebels.
To send arms is “against the principles” of Europe, which is a “community of peace”, said Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, a longtime outspoken opponent of the move. But 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 August 1”.
The delay is intended to allow peace efforts to proceed, but Syrian rebels on the ground criticised the delay. “Why wait until August? Why wait another two months? So that the Syrian people continue to be subjected to genocide?” Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the joint command of the Free Syrian Army said. “We need anti-aircraft rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles.”
Russia, a staunch ally of Assad’s regime, criticised the EU’s decision. “This directly harms the prospects of convening an international (peace) conference,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.
On the ground, meanwhile, the conflict again spilled over the border into Lebanon. Unknown gunmen killed three Lebanese soldiers near the frontier overnight, an official said.
15 inmates die
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.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “at least 15 prisoners were killed in shelling of the prison, which rebel fighters have besieged”.
AFP
