Europe to lift Syria arms embargo Syrian rebels and civilians gather around the remains of a Syrian government fighter jet. Brussels: British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the European Union has decided to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime after June 1. Hague said after the 12-hour meeting that the decision ""sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime"." The all-day meeting laid bare EU hesitation on feeding arms into a foreign conflict only months after it won the Nobel Peace Prize. British Foreign Minister William Hague says Europe will lift the Syrian arms embargo. Hague insisted that Britain has ""no immediate plans to send arms to Syria." It gives us flexibility to respond in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate"." The decision came after lengthy debate, with Britain and France leading the call for lifting the embargo to help tilt the military balance in favour of Syrian rebels. Austria led the resistance to a change in European policy, saying that sending military hardware would undermine efforts to promote a negotiated solution and betray the principles that earned the EU the Nobel Peace Prize last year. ""We just won the peace prize,"" Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said. The people in Syria being killed in this conflict wouldn't benefit if we ship weapons. It would result in an arms race."" Spindelegger threatened to withdraw Austria's United Nations peacekeepers from the Golan Heights out of concern for their safety if the Syrian conflict escalates. European countries were freed to make case-by-case decisions on arms sales, making sure of ""adequate safeguards"" that the weapons will be delivered to the opposition and be used to protect civilians, an EU statement said. No timetable was given for starting the shipments. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who struggled to enforce a common line across the 27-nation EU, told reporters that ""you're quite right to point to the fact that member states may take different decisions."" The agreement coincides with global efforts to end the bloody conflict in Syria, with top US diplomat John Kerry in Paris for talks aimed at breathing life into a peace conference. The push to bring warring sides together is becoming ever-more pressing in a conflict that has claimed more than 94,000 lives, amid reports of ""horrific"" rights violations and mounting evidence that chemical weapons are being used. The lifting of the arms embargo comes against a background of growing divisions within the Syrian opposition, as fighting rages on the ground between rebels and regime troops now aided by the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah. Mr Kerry has warned that unless the two sides come to the table, the world will witness ""the continued tragic disintegration of a country that will go down further into more violence and more bloodshed and more destruction"." The diplomatic breakthrough came as ground opposition fighters battled regime troops for control of the key rebel stronghold of Qusair. Hezbollah's involvement in the fight has stirred international condemnation, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon saying he was ""deeply concerned"" by the group's role. Its actions have threatened to draw Lebanon ever deeper into Syria's conflict, raising domestic tensions and sparking rocket attacks on Hezbollah's heartland in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the first time the Lebanese capital's mainly Shiite southern suburbs have been targeted during the Syria conflict. In the past week, 31 people have also been killed in clashes in Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli between Assad supporters and opponents. But in Syria, Hezbollah's intervention has given Assad the upper hand in Qusair, where an army assault began eight days ago. AP, AFP, Bloomberg