Irish FM calls for a political solution in Syria

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore on Friday called for a political and a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria and warned of further militarization of the conflict. Speaking to reporters ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Dublin, he said "this is an informal meeting which takes place every six months," adding that the first topic on the agenda is the continuing crisis in Syria. Gilmore recalled that EU leaders, who met last week in Brussels, asked the EU foreign ministers to give further consideration to the situation in Syria "and we will be doing that immediately when the meeting get underway." "I think we have to concentrate on finding a political solution in Syria. I think the further militarization of the environment in Syria would certainly not be helpful," said Gilmore who is hosting the two-day informal meeting. "The more arms that go into Syria, the more casualties there would be, "he said and called for the continuation of support to the Arab League-UN Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi to bring a settlement in Syria. He announced that the flight of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has been delayed and they are waiting for her arrival to start the meeting this evening. Ireland holds the current EU Presidency. On his part, Belgian foreign ministers Didier Reynders, told journalists in Dublin that "we have to be very careful to avoid proliferation and know the final arms recipients. There are a lot of groups in the country out of control, some of them are extremists. We do not want to arm jihadists in one country when we are fighting them in another." "There is some margin for discussion but on the condition we can effectively control the deliveries," he added.