Syrian rebels should be armed say France, UK

Britain and France will attempt to persuade other European Union members to begin arming Syrian rebels.

Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande signaled they may move to arm rebels without EU support.

"We must convince our partners, particularly in Europe, that we have no other choice but lift the arms embargo in favor of the Syrian Coalition," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on French radio, reported Libération.

On his way to a European summit Thursday, the French president reiterated France's commitment to Syria.

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"We can't let a people be massacred as it today by the regime," he said, reported the BBC.

"We must put pressure and show that we are ready to support the opposition."

Hollande said that he would use Saturday's EU summit to bring up the issue with the other 26 member states.

In Britain, the prime minister told Parliament Tuesday that Britain may have to make the decision to arm rebels unilaterally if the EU does not lift its embargo on weapons to Syria, said CNN.

"We might have to do things in our own way," he said.

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