EU Official:  Arms to Syria Means ‘More Suffering’

In an interview with Al-Monitor, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva, who's responsible for the response of the European Union to humanitarian crises worldwide, said that the crisis in Syria “is the one with the most dramatic spillover risks that exists today. None of us can say that we have not seen this coming, because we see it coming, and yet there is this paralysis that exists” on ending the war.

Georgieva lamented the flow of arms to Syria, saying, “Our experience, from what we do as humanitarians, we just have not seen so far the pouring of arms into Syria to be helping raise the probability of a political solution or a negotiated exit. We haven’t seen it — with the exception of the Patriot missiles in Turkey that have had a deterrent impact on a part of the territory. The rest of throwing arms into Syria only meant more fighting, more suffering, more people running into neighboring countries.  And not more appetite for negotiation, so far.”

Georgieva’s comments come as US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on April 20 a doubling of non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition and civil society groups, bringing total US assistance to $250 million, and as the Obama administration continues to resist congressional pressure for US military support for the Syrian opposition.