Britain can start arming Syrian rebels straight away but there are no plans yet to do so, Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
After European Union foreign ministers lifted the embargo on supplying arms to Syrian opposition forces, Mr Hague said there was no August deadline before weapons shipments could begin.
It was thought that no shipments could take place before August 1 when the EU Foreign Affairs Council was due to review its position on the basis of a report by EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton, following consultation with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, on developments in the US-Russia peace initiative and on the engagement of the Syrian parties.
But Mr Hague yesterday confirmed that the Government would be able to arm the rebels right away but said no decision had been made yet.
He told Radio 4’s The World At One: “I must correct one thing because I know there’s been discussion of some sort of August deadline.
“That is not the case, there will be a discussion in the EU by August 1 but from now on … we have said we have made our own commitments that at this stage as we work for the Geneva conference we are not taking any decision to send any arms to anyone.
“But that is not related to a date of August 1, I don’t want anyone to think that therefore there is any automatic decision after August 1 or that we are excluded from doing so beforehand.”
Meanwhile, fears of an arms race in Syria grew after Russia revealed it had signed a contract to supply Bashar Assad’s regime with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles.
The Foreign Secretary said he was not surprised at the decision and claimed it was not related to the EU decision to lift the embargo.
“I have never seen any evidence they (Russia) would change that approach so that is not surprising and I don’t think it’s related to the decision we have made in the European Union,” Mr Hague said.
“But certainly the long-term supply of weapons to the regime from Russia and from other countries has not helped this situation. Therefore we do all have to think of the options we can pursue in the future.”