EU debates arming Syrian rebels

The EU weapons ban, which applies to all parties in Syria, would expire on March 1 along with other sanctions. The 27 EU members agree on keeping most restrictions in place, but cannot agree on how to handle the arms embargo and whether it should be lifted for the rebel side.

Some would prefer to leave the embargo as it is or modify it slightly without involving the EU more in the conflict.  A small faction, led by Britain with tepid French and Italian support, has pushed to lift sanctions on the Syrian opposition while leaving them on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Syria's nearly two-year conflict has killed at least 70,000 people, according to UN estimates. Many countries have ruled out supplying rebels with arms out of fears of proliferation.

The decision by the 27 ministers must be unanimous, and many diplomats doubt that an agreement will be reached on Monday. Still, they also doubt that negotiations will stretch to March 1 and a total lifting of sanctions.

Also on the agenda, the ministers face an easier road on new sanctions for North Korea as part of international backlash after the country carried out another nuclear test last Tuesday. Finally, the ministers will discuss Mali and the EU's 500-troop training mission for soldiers in the West African country.

'Sectarian tensions'

Over the weekend, Syria's opposition accused Lebanon-based Hezbollah militias of crossing the border to fight for President Assad, attacking three Sunni villages inside the Qusayr region.

A Hezbollah spokesman said on Sunday that three Lebanese Shiites were killed in clashes in Syria while acting in "self-defense," without specifying whether they were affiliated with the movement. The opposition Syrian National Council reported that the incursion had "stoked sectarian tensions" and led to "civilian casualties and the exodus of hundreds."

Lebanon's Hezbollah is Shiite; most of Syria's population and the rebels battling Assad are Sunni. Assad's ruling clan belongs to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Elsewhere in the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that fierce battles raged near the northern city of Aleppo as rebels continued their bid to capture the international airport and its adjacent Nairab military base.

mkg/kms (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)