PARIS, June 26 (KUNA) --- France has not yet taken the decision on delivering lethal weapons to Syrian opposition groups but is eager to get a better military balance on the ground in Syria ahead of any negotiations for a peace settlement, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday.
Speaking on "RMC Radio", Fabius reiterated his government's position that Bashar Al-Assad must step down as President of Syria and he maintained this was already part of the Geneva I negotiations held a year ago and the process has been carried forward by the powerful Group of Eight nations (G8), which includes Russia "The G8 said that the Geneva conference must take place," Fabius said in the interview.
The Foreign Minister said he doubted this would take place in July, but consultations were still ongoing, notably this week between the United States, Russia and UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
Fabius stressed that it was "important what the G8 said," noting the Geneva process sets out that the Syrian parties must agree on transition and "that there is a government that has all executive powers" in Syria.
He underlined that this "necessarily means that all agree in Geneva that we decide on a government that has all executive powers, meaning the powers of Bashar Al-Assad, thus Bashar Al-Assad would be powerless and, in the end, would step down." Despite this logic, however, senior Syrian officials, notably Foreign Minister Waleed Muallem, have said earlier this week that Al-Assad does not intend to resign and would not be stepping down in Geneva and those who thought so should not attend the conference.
However, Fabius said that the language of the G8 meeting a week ago in Northern Ireland was "a step forward." He saw more progress in the call by the G8 for Syria to accept a UN mission to evaluate if there was any use of chemical weapons in the conflict, as claimed by France, Britain and the United States.
On the negative side, Fabius noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin, once he left the G8 meeting, declared that he would continue to deliver weapons to the Damascus regime if he were asked to do so.
Concerning deliveries to the opposition groups fighting the Syrian regime, Fabius said France "hasn't decided" on giving "lethal weapons" but is already supplying "non-lethal" material.
France cannot decide on delivering lethal weapons unless "the opposition unifies...and only if there is traceability on these arms. This is not about delivering weapons so that they may be turned against us," he insisted.
Paris is, therefore, wary of giving sophisticated anti-tank or anti-aircraft missiles to the rebels lest they fall into the hands of anti-Western extremists groups fighting in Syria.
The situation would be reviewed after August 1, when an EU "voluntary" probationary period on arms deliveries ends. The EU agreed to this period when the European embargo on arms deliveries expired and was lifted at the end of May.
On military training, or what is commonly called "technical assistance," Fabius said that France was not carrying out any programmes as yet and had not decided on this, although the US was doing so in "covert" operations.
"It is not impossible" that France might soon start "technical assistance" for the rebels, he said.
"I am in favour re-establishing a balance between the two (sides). Bashar Al-Assad has planes - he has 550 of them - (and) he has the backing of Iran and Hezbollah. He is bombarding the resistance who are in a terrible situation, " France's Chief Diplomat pointed out.
"The resistance cannot face up to this so the embargo was working against the resistance because the others are receiving arms (from Russia) and (the opposition) aren't getting them. If we want to move towards a political solution - the only good one here - there must be a certain balance between the parties." Fabius said that the "London eleven" group, which is the core group of the Friends of Syria conference, was working on getting this balance, including supplying weapons to the opposition.
"We are eleven who are helping the resistance. A certain number of Arab countries are doing it (delivering weapons) and we are reflecting on it," the Foreign Minister noted.
The Syria conflict erupted in March 2011 after peaceful demonstrations were brutally repressed by regime forces.
Latest reports from NGO's in Lebanon put the death toll at over 100,000, mainly civilians, with an estimated 1.6 million refugees outside of Syria and several million internally displaced inside the country. (end) jk.rk KUNA 261135 Jun 13NNNN