Hague vows to step up support for Syrian rebels He said the Syrian rebels were clearly receiving arms from the outside but that Britain was not providing any yet. "We don't approve of sending arms into Syria, but that is happening," he said. I don't rule out any option for the future because we can't foresee how it will develop. But it has never been our policy in any of the conflicts in the Middle East to send lethal assistance to any of the parties involved. Mr Hague said the Security Council "has not shouldered its responsibilities. It is not doing what it should be doing to try to bring a solution to this. He also rejected "spurious" claims by China and Russia that the resolution voted down on Thursday would have opened up a path to military action. I think they don't want to see what happens in Syria as another victory of any kind for Western foreign policy. ... But this is not the West," he said. "They [Russia] will regret it because I think that the situation will now deteriorate further sharply and probably to the disadvantage of the Assad regime and to the disadvantage of Russian interest in Syria and the Middle East in the longer term," Mr Hague said. Russia's foreign ministry on Friday slammed Western criticism of its UN veto as "unacceptable."