Poll reveals most Britons oppose sending arms to gunmen in Syria

A majority of the British public are against sending arms to the armed group in Syria, according to a poll made by ComRes for The Independent. The poll revealed that 52 percent of people say they would oppose the government providing arms to the armed opposition, while 13 per cent are undecided. According to ComRes, women (54 percent) are more likely to be against supplying arms than men (51 per cent). Liberal Democrat supporters (60 percent) are more likely to oppose the idea than Labour voters (52 percent). The poll results enhance position of the British politicians who are hesitant regarding sending weapons to the armed terrorist groups in Syria. Earlier, a survey conducted by Opinium/Observer in the beginning of this month showed that the majority of Britons oppose arming the armed terrorist groups in Syria after the European Union's decision to lift the ban. 78 percent of them believed that the British army is exhausted after its participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With Labour, the Liberal Democrats and at least 80 Conservative MPs opposed to the idea, it looks doubtful that the British government's plans could win the support of the House of Commons. Despite that, British ministers are making the case for intervention. Yesterday Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office Minister, argued that helping the armed terrorists would be in the British national interest. Interviewed in Parliament’s The House magazine, he said: “We have a British interest in the fact that people from all over the world are being drawn into Syria. This includes people from the United Kingdom. They train and they experience conflict on an extremist basis. It cannot be in our interest that this goes on for long because these people return home.