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British minister opposes arming Syrian rebels

In an exclusive interview, the United Kingdom's Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Hugh Robertson said that further militarization is not the way to end the Syria war.
Members of the Lebanese army stand with the British ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, and Hugh Robertson, British Secretary of State for the Middle East and North Africa, as they give the aid to the Lebanese army in Kfarshima, east of Beirut December 10, 2013. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX16CAH

AMMAN, Jordan — Hugh Robertson, Britain’s minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, has opposed calls to arm the Syrian rebels, instead insisting that all sides need to return to the negotiating table.

“Generally speaking if you want to end a war, arming both sides is not the way to do it,” he told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview on March 26, on the sidelines of his tour of Syrian refugees in Jordan.

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