PARIS (AP) — The French for­eign min­is­ter says France is ready to help arm Syr­ian oppo­si­tion fight­ers and is push­ing for an urgent Euro­pean Unionmeet­ing on lift­ing its arms embargo on Syria.

Asked if France should arm the rebels, Lau­rent Fabius said on France-Info radio Thurs­day that it’s “one of the only means left to make things move polit­i­cally” in Syria.

Asked if France and Britain could join efforts to arm the oppo­si­tion, Fabius said, “to lift the embargo, exactly.” He said France and Britain will ask for an EU meet­ing on lift­ing the embargo “now,” pos­si­bly by the end of this month. The cur­rent embargo expires in May.

Some EU officials say more weapons are not what is needed in Syria, after 70,000 peo­ple have been killed in the two-year conflict.

Asso­ci­ated Press