Rebels will take years to match army's strength: Syria

A decision by Western and Arabcountries to arm rebels fighting to topple Syria's PresidentBashar al-Assad poses a danger to peace talks, the Syrianforeign minister said on Monday.

Walid al-Moualem told a news conference in Damascus that theopposition had little hope of matching the Syrian army'sstrength despite a pledge by the states that make up the"Friends of Syria" to increase military support to the rebels.

"If they expect or fantasize that they can create a balanceof power, I think they will need to wait years for that tohappen," he said during the televised news conference.

Western and Arab countries as well as Turkey, who havethrown their weight behind the opposition, said their decisionto arm the rebels was to rebalance the conflict in which morethan 93,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians.

Assad is seen as having gained momentum, seizing a strategictown near the Lebanese border which helps him cement controlbetween the capital Damascus and his stronghold on theMediterranean coast.

Moualem said that a move towards openly giving militarysupport to the rebels would encourage terrorism and that radicalIslamist groups linked to al Qaeda would benefit the most.

"The decision in Doha is dangerous...because it aims toprolong the crisis, to extend the violence and the killing, andto encourage the terrorists to carry out their crimes," he said.

The United States and Russia are planning a peace conferencein Geneva between the opposition and Assad's government.

"Arming the opposition will obstruct Geneva. Arming theopposition will kill more of our people," Moualem said. "We headto Geneva not to hand over power to another side.

"Whoever on the other side imagines this, I advise them notto go to Geneva."

The goverment was willing to discuss forming a broad-basedgovernment of national unity in Geneva, he added.

The Syrian conflict began as peaceful protests against fourdecades of Assad family rule, but descended into a civil warthat has drawn in foreign fighters to both sides of the fight,increasing regional ethnic and sectarian tensions.

Syria's opposition, led mostly by the Sunni Muslim majority,has attracted foreign Islamist fighters. Shi'ites from Iraq andLebanon have joined the fight on the side of Assad, who is fromthe minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Moualem said Syria wanted a ceasefire in order to hold talksat Geneva.

"We are insistent that if Geneva is held there must be aceasefire, and we are ready to study mechanisms for observing iton the basis that neighbouring states abide, by haltingtraining, arming and financing and sending them to Syrianterritory," he said.

In Brussels, a European Union report said the bloc should support a political settlement but also ease sanctions to helppeople in rebel-held areas, following steps to exempt the rebelsfrom oil and banking sanctions.

The report from the EU's executive Commission and foreignpolicy chief Catherine Ashton also said the two-year-old Syrianconflict and a refugee exodus were putting severe strain onSyria's neighbours, threatening the internal stability ofLebanon and Jordan,

Having taken in more than half a million refugees, Lebanon authorities were unable to cope alone, the report said.

"It is imperative to shield the country from the efforts ofsome of the local and regional actors to wage the Syrianstruggle on Lebanese soil," it said.

Lebanon has suffered growing violence at home as theconflict turns into a proxy war along sectarian lines.

Lebanon'sHezbollah Shi'ite militia has joined the war on Assad's side.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.