France raised the prospect yesterday of providing Syria’s rebels with defensive weapons as Turkey joined it and the Gulf Arab states in recognising the newly unified Opposition.

France said it would discuss its proposal to ease the EU arms embargo on both sides in the 20-month conflict with its partners in the 27-nation bloc, but Russia said any such move would be a violation of international law.

The diplomatic manoeuvring came as the Syrian army pressed an operation in areas around Damascus to oust rebels clinging to gains they made in July and as fighting raged around a key military airport near the Iraqi border.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he would raise the idea of excluding defensive weapons for the rebels from the current blanket EU embargo to help them protect the areas they hold from bombardment by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. (AFP)

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.