* Rift could see sanctions on Assad lapse, compromise likely
* Britain, France push for freedom to arm rebels
* Others fear lifting ban could harm peace conference
By Adrian Croft
BRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) – The European Union may end this
week either helping Syrian rebels or the Damascus government
they detest, depending on how EU ministers resolve differences
over a package of sanctions on Syria that is about to lapse.
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, the main EU military
powers, Britain and France, will argue forcefully for easing
some of that embargo to help channel weapons to rebels fighting
President Bashar al-Assad. But Austria, Sweden and several
others will defend maintaining the sanctions across the board.
Failure to find a compromise could mean the entire package
simply vanishes when it expires on Saturday, June 1 – London has
already raised the stakes by threatening to veto a full renewal.
But it is unlikely the EU will offer such a shot in the arm
to Assad by giving up on measures intended to cripple his
government’s ability to trade and raise money and also to curb
the movements and personal wealth of his family and confidants.
EU officials see compromise – possibly by delaying an easing
of the arms embargo until after peace talks or by limiting the
types of weapon allowed and which rebel groups may receive them.
“I think everyone is manoeuvring here,” said Shashank Joshi
at London think-tank the Royal United Services Institute.
“The Brits are very keen to show they will take this quite
far. Will they actually pull the trigger? Will they get rid of
the entire apparatus of sanctions and asset freezes that this
entails? I am not so sure.”
The debate over the arms embargo has gained urgency because
of recent military gains by Assad’s troops against rebels whose
political goal in ending the Assad dynasty’s authoritarian rule
the 27-nation European Union has endorsed diplomatically.
Opponents say taking a decision now to allow arms to be sent
to the rebels could undermine next month’s planned international
peace conference, sponsored by the United States and Russia, and
they are using this as an argument to extend the full embargo.
COMPROMISES
Britain and France say they have no immediate plan to arm
the rebels but argue that easing the EU embargo would strengthen
the hand of the West and the opposition in the negotiations.
Austria has warned that it could stop patrolling the U.N.
ceasefire line on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria if
the EU arms embargo were lifted; Vienna says that the EU would
be putting its troops at risk by making the European Union a
military ally of one side in Syria’s civil war.
While the rebels are receiving arms from Arab states through
Jordan and Turkey, Western powers are concerned that Islamist
militants fighting Assad could also use such weapons against
them. The United States has also held back from supplying arms.
EU diplomats say four or five member states want the EU arms
embargo renewed unaltered, though some of these would accept an
extension of just a month or two to assess how the peace talks
turn out. France has proposed easing the embargo immediately but
making implementation conditional on a breakdown of the talks.
Italy was open to easing the embargo as long as there were
controls on who would receive weapons, one EU diplomat said.
An EU official said compromise may involve proposed arms
shipments being examined case by case or limitations on the type
of weaponry made available, though that may be hard to enforce.
One senior EU official doubted there would any major change
in the arms embargo directly after Monday’s ministerial meeting.
He said: “A prolongation of the current situation for a short
period of time would seem the most likely outcome.”
(Additional reporting by Luke Baker, Ethan Bilby, Ilona
Wissenbach and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and John Irish in
Paris; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
