Britain could ramp up scale of security to Syria rebels

Britain could dramatically widen the scale of its security support for the Syrian rebels, William Hague has said despite failing to scrap the EU arms embargo at talks in Brussels.

The European Union gave the green light to Whitehall plans to send “security and civilian-military” trainers to assist Syrian rebels.

The decision followed a battle between William Hague and Baroness Ashton at a meeting of European foreign ministers over a British call to lift current EU sanctions that prevent any form of military support to Syria’s besieged rebels.

Following opposition to lifting the arms embargo, from Germany, Sweden and over 20 other countries, the Foreign Secretary hailed a compromise amending EU sanctions to allow “technical assistance for the protection of civilians” as a breakthrough.

“It is important because it shows that we can change the arms embargo and the worse the situation becomes the more we can change,” he said.

“It allows is to supply a greater range of equipment to protect civilian life in Syria. It also enables us to give assistance and advice that we’ve been restricted in giving before. We would have gone further, many nations would have made no amendment at all. This is a compromise.”

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