The EU governments on Monday extended sanctions against Syria for a further three months but said they would amended an arms embargo to provide more non-lethal support and technical assistance to protect civilians.
A statement agreed by EU foreign ministers said the sanctions were renewed for three more months to end-May but that they were “amending them so as to provide greater non-lethal support and technical assistance for the protection of civilians.”
The decision, taken at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting, was a compromise after weeks of disagreement between Britain, which was pushing for an easing of the arms embargo to help rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and a number of other EU countries opposed to letting more weapons into the country.
