Hollande and Cameron alter position on Syria solution

French president François Hollande said he and the British prime minister David Cameron talked about the worsening conflict in Syria “all the way in train from Brussels” after the European Council last night.

France and Britain had announced that they were ready to break an EU embargo on weapons to Syria in March. Without expressly abandoning that goal, both countries now appear reluctant to do so.

Messers Hollande and Cameron said they prefer a political solution and support the idea of a US and Russia-sponsored peace conference in Geneva next month.

While expressing strong support for the Syrian opposition, they made no forceful argument for lifting the arms embargo, which will be discussed at an EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday. Instead, they simply argued that “military pressure” made a political solution more likely.

Regime forces seem to be re-taking the town of al-Qusayr, near Syria’s border with Lebanon. Mr Cameron hedged when asked whether Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has won the war. “I would describe the situation as more of a stalemate in terms of what is happening on the ground in Syria,” he said.

'Situation on the ground'
Mr Hollande admitted that "there's a situation on the ground that's evolving, which is, in effect, for the moment, in favour of the regime in a certain number of places. They have weapons that the opposition does not have, which creates an imbalance."

The main argument against arming the rebels has been that they might fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, in particular the Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaeda. London and Paris have asked the UN to designate al-Nusra as a terrorist organisation.

“We have recognised the Syrian opposition as the legitimate voice of the Syrian people,” Mr Cameron said. “We have congratulated them on the fact they stand for democracy and plurality and for minority rights including Christians. That is the sort of Syria we want to see.”

Franco-British enthusiasm for arming the rebels has also been cooled by reports that both sides have used chemical weapons.

France and Britain had said they would act alone, without EU agreement, once the embargo expires at the end of this month. Mr Hollande changed his tone last night, saying that he and Mr Cameron “want to act as Europeans. With all the Europeans. That is why we will convince them, with the guarantees we’ll provide.”

Neither the Syrian government nor the opposition have said they will attend the Geneva conference, and France says it would be unacceptable for Iran to be present.

"It is perfectly clear that the main aim of this possible conference is to bring in a transitional government for Syria which will have the full executive power," the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told a meeting of the 'Friends of Syria' group in Amman yesterday.