UK and France: only weapons will make al-Assad talk

BRUSSELS – Britain and France have said the only way to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk is to threaten him with arming rebels.

The foreign ministers of the EU’s top military powers – William Hague and Laurent Fabius – made their case in a joint letter, seen by EUobserver, sent to EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton on 21 March.