Saudi FM calls on EU to supply arms to Syrian rebels

Saudi FM calls on EU to supply arms to Syrian rebels
Saudi foreign minister says Syrian rebels fighting against “occupying
forces”
Abeed Al-Suhaimy Asharq Al-Awsat 1 Jul, 2013

http://www.aawsat.net/2013/07/article55308033

Manama, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said on
Sunday that his country wanted the EU to immediately start implementing its
decision to lift the ban on arming the opposition in Syria, due to “serious
recent developments” in the country.

He also called for an international resolution to ban the arming of the
Syrian government, and to force all foreign fighters to leave the country.

He said the Syrian arena had seen many developments, among which “the
participation of foreign forces, such as Hezbollah militias and others
supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and with unlimited supply of
Russian arms.”

The Saudi foreign minister was speaking at the 23rd GCC-EU Joint Council and
Ministerial Meeting in Manama on Sunday. He said “we meet here today while
Syrian towns and villages are besieged and destroyed by heavy artillery,
aircraft and internationally banned weapons, with no conscience, principle
or morality.”

He added that “it is astonishing that we still hear some outsiders
criticizing both sides, and by doing so, equating between the victim and the
executioner, in the acts of violence and the violation of human rights that
go on in Syria every day.”

Al-Faisal added that the Syrian resistance was “no longer only fighting a
regime which has lost its legitimacy, but was now involved in a bitter war
against a foreign occupier of their country, which emphasizes the legitimacy
of the resistance according to UN Charter, which guarantees the legitimate
right to self-defense, and the right to expel foreign occupiers.”

He stressed the importance of international intervention to end the
involvement of Hezbollah and Iran in the fighting in Syria.

He said: “While Saudi Arabia is satisfied with the position of the US, in
working to redress the imbalance of power and supporting the legitimacy of
the coalition, it also points to the EU’s decision to lift the ban on arming
Syrian rebels, and calls on the EU to immediately start implementing the
decision, especially in light of recent developments in Syria.”

Prince Saud concluded by saying “the Syrian National Coalition is now the
legitimate representative of the Syrian people and was ready to form a
transitional ruling body which enjoys full powers, with the exclusion of the
regime and its supporters.”