EU arms embargo on Syria

The EU embargo, first imposed in May 2011, applies to the rebels as much as the Syrian government. But in February this year, foreign ministers agreed to enable any EU member state to provide non-lethal military equipment "for the protection of civilians" or for the opposition forces, "which the Union accepts as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people".

If foreign ministers fail to agree to an easing of the arms embargo, which expires at midnight on 31 May, a more likely deal would involve extending it without amendment for a short period to see if the Geneva conference is successful. 

Unanimity is needed, and Mr Hague warned that if a deal could not be agreed, each member state would have to ensure it had its own sanctions.

Syrian state TV said Yara Abbas was killed while covering clashes in Qusair

Oxfam has warned of "devastating consequences" if the embargo ends.

"There are no easy answers when trying to stop the bloodshed in Syria, but sending more arms and ammunition clearly isn't one of them," the aid agency's head of arms control, Anna Macdonald, said in a statement on Thursday. 

Fighting in Syria continued on Monday around the strategic town of Qusair, a few miles from the Lebanese border.

A prominent Syrian female TV journalist, Yara Abbas, was killed just outside the town, pro-government Ikhbariya TV said, in clashes that have threatened to spill over into Lebanon. 

Dozens of militants from the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement have been killed in Qusair in the past week. The latest violence has prompted UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay to issue a dire warning.

"A humanitarian, political and social catastrophe is already upon us and what awaits us is truly a nightmare," she told the start of a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.