Lifting Arms Embargo on Terrorist Groups in Syria Worsens Crisis: Austria
VIENNA- (ST)- Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger has called on the European Union not to lift arms embargo on armed terrorist groups in Syria and instead start a political process to establish peace in the Arab country, according to Press TV.
During a Friday interview with The Associated Press in Vienna, Spindelegger said that a supply of more weapons into Syria “could worsen the crisis, threaten a US-Russian peace initiative and create more divisions in the UN Security Council”.
“We believe there are enough weapons in Syria,” Spindelegger said. “We support a cease-fire, not weapons deliveries.”
He stressed that the EU’s arms embargo on armed terrorist groups fighting against the Syrian government should be extended also to maintain the safety of UN peacekeepers in the Syrian Golan Heights.
Lifting the EU embargo “would give us real problems on the Golan Height,” Spindelegger noted.
Spindelegger stated that the UN peacekeepers could be targeted if European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday decide to allow EU states to send weapons to the armed groups in Syria.
So far European foreign ministers have failed to reach an agreement on whether to lift an arms embargo on the foreign-backed terrorist groups in Syria.
Austria, Germany, Sweden and other states have expressed concerns that arming the militants would spread the deadly conflict, but France and Britain are pushing the 27-nation bloc to allow EU members to ship weapons to the armed groups.
The crisis in Syria has dragged on for over two years, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the foreign-sponsored terrorism.
The Syrian government has been stressing that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed groups members are foreign nationals.
According to reports, terrorists from 29 different countries are fighting against the Syrian state in different parts of the country.
H. Mustafa