President Hollande Confirms France Delivered Arms to Syrian Rebels

In Hollande's words, this decision was justified by the help the Syrian rebels required, facing both Syrian President Bachar Al Asad and the Islamic State group (formally known as ISIS).

He mentioned these deliveries in an interview with Le Monde on Sunday, stating he had made the decision in conformity with his “commitments” and with the rules of the European Union.

The head of state also evoked the “terrible” current situation in Syria, affirming that France “should not reduce the support that we had granted to the rebels, who are the only ones participating with a democratic perspective,” although France  can't “do this alone”, but only “in agreement with Europe and the Americans”, he added, referring to the U.S. He did not elaborate on what he meant by "democracy".

However, Paris had unofficially made the decision in December 2012 to bypass the European embargo on weapons sales to Syrian extremists, said a close source to the Nouvel Observateur in March 2013, but in agreement with the United States and United Kingdom, who had made the same decision.

According to the source, the first convoys were then sent in January to several groups selected by intelligence services. The decision followed the recognition of Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, the President of the Syrian National Coalition, as the “only representative of the Syrian people”.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy operated the same way in Lybia, quickly recognizing far-right groups, before providing them arms.

Nevertheless, in a European summit in April 2013, Hollande changed his position and stopped encouraging his European partners to remove the embargo over the sale of arms to Syrian rebels, as one of the groups, Al Nostra Front, was allied with al Qaeda, and al-Khatib resigned from the Coalition, showing signs of internal divisions.

On France's delivery of weapons to Kurds, Hollande also said that a first convoy had arrived in Iraq, stressing that France was “the first to take the initiative” and has been followed by Germany, “and likely other European countries.”