Despite UN Warnings, US and EU Talk Up Arms to Syrian Rebels

EU Conference on 'Ending the War' Centers on Escalation

by Jason Ditz, February 18, 2013

European Union Foreign Ministers are discussing “ending the war” in Syria, by which they mean dramatically escalating an already out of control situation.

With Britain in the lead, several of the FMs are pushing a proposal to “end the war” by throwing massive amounts of additional weaponry at the Syrian rebels, who have control of much of the northern half of the country, assuming that will allow them to conquer the rest.

This move is being pushed in spite of a panel of UN investigators delivering a report today warning massive human rights violations on both sides of the war and urging people to stop arming the two combatant factions as the war continues to worsen.

But just because arming Syria’s Islamist rebels is a shockingly bad idea doesn’t mean the EU isn’t going to eventually cave in to British demands, and likewise the US seems to be giving strong consideration to “revisiting” their previous position, which is to smuggling other peoples’ arms to the rebels but not provide any of their own. That revisiting, needless to say, is going to be about getting the US deeper involved, not less involved.

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