Czech, Austria, Slovakia Refuse Arming Syrian Rebels, Germany Remains Reserved

Local Editor

Austria's Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Spindelegger warned of the spiral of violence in Syria, reiterating his country's refusal in lifting the embargo off arming the so-called Syrian opposition.
Austrian television stations cited the FM as saying in Vienna, "Allowing the Syrian opposition to be armed will cause a spiral of continuous arming."
Moreover, Austria is strongly opposed to any European proposal to arming the opposition. Austrian broadcast stations pointed out that "the end of the sanctions on Syria is by the end of May, so the Foreign Minister of the EU must reach a final formulation in this regards on May 27," noting that most of EU countries are opposed to arming the Syrian opposition.
Furthermore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg seeks a political solution not a military one for the Syrian crisis, and consequently refuses to lift off the arms embargo on the Syrian insurgents.
For his part, the spokesperson for the Slovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Boris Gandel affirmed that Slovakia will not back the embargo lift, and prioritizes a peaceful solution for the crisis.

Likewise, global newspapers reported that the US is pressuring European countries to back British and French-brokered pursuits to arm the rebels.

On this note, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius said that his country "would like to achieve the largest number of European approvals possible allowing us to arm the Syrian opposition."
Germany, on the other hand, among other countries such as Belgium and Austria, had rejected the French and British plot in this regard, that aims at backing the extreme terrorist groups in Syria.

Germany had its reservations, stating that there are no guarantees that the weapons would not reach extremists in Syria.

Recently, the German Ministry of Interior and Head of Intelligence stated that there are around 800 German extremist fighting in Syria, and the Ministry of Interior banned their return.

Source: News Agencies