Russia: Military Help to Syrian Rebels Would Violate International Law

Russia on Thursday warned nations backing the Syrian opposition against President Bashar Assad that they would violate international law if they started supplying the rebels with weapons.

"Promises are being made from a number of capitals of massive supplies of modern weapons," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters.

"Outside help to the opposition waging an armed battle against a legitimate government is a gross violation of fundamental norms of international law," he said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius raised on Thursday the issue of excluding defensive weapons from the current European Union arms embargo on Syria to help rebels fighting Assad's regime.

"For the moment, there is an embargo, so there are no arms being delivered from the European side. The issue... will no doubt be raised for defensive arms," he told RTL radio.

"The issue will be raised because the (opposition) coalition has asked us to do so," he said, adding that "this is something that we can only do in coordination with the Europeans."