France will uphold the EU embargo on weapon deliveries for Syrian rebels after all, changing course from just two weeks ago, according to comments Thursday by President Francois Hollande, dpa reported.
France would have to be convinced that the weapons would not fall into the hands of terrorists, Hollande said in an interview with France 2.
"At the moment, we do not have this guarantee," Hollande said.
Just two weeks ago, France and Britain did not exclude the possibility of weapon deliveries for the Syrian opposition. If necessary, they were prepared to go it alone with the deliveries to opponents of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.
Many EU countries and the United States are worried that such deliveries will put weapons of war into the hands of Islamist militants who would use them for terrorist attacks in Europe or nearby Israel.