ISTANBUL – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Saturday the Syrian opposition must distance itself from extremist forces and he said Germany was skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels. “We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces,” Westerwelle told reporters in Istanbul at a meeting of Syrian opposition leaders and their international backers. “We are sceptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union.” The 11-nation “core group” of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011. Syria's opposition has said it hopes the Istanbul meeting will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end Assad's rule. A Syrian rebel leader said Saturday only force could end the country's two-year conflict and ruled out the possibility of any negotiation with President Bashar Al-Assad's administration other than over its exit. “There is no solution with this regime through negotiation. This (conflict) will not be settled other than by force,” Brigadier Selim Idris, head of a military command, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul. “Maybe in its final stages, when the regime feels it has lost everything, it might want to negotiate for its exit.” – Agencies
