France 'ready to arm rebels'

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France and Britain will ask for an EU meeting on lifting the embargo "now," possibly by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, human rights monitors warned that Syrian rebels routinely kill captured soldiers and suspected regime informers, warning of mounting war crimes by opposition forces.

Reports about abuses by government forces had received wide coverage, but rebel fighters must also be held accountable, said Amnesty International spokeswoman Cilina Nasser today.

"It's time for the armed opposition groups to know that some of the abuses they commit amount to war crimes," she said.

The main Western-backed rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, denied that rebels systematically kill captured soldiers.

"We do not deny that it's happening, but these are individual cases, people who take revenge because their father or relatives have been killed by the regime," claimed spokesman Bassam al-Dada.

"This happens in wars all over the place."

But Amnesty said that rebel groups, including some affiliated with the FSA, "are summarily killing people with a chilling sense of impunity and the death toll continues to rise as more towns and villages come under the control of armed opposition groups."