BRUSSELS — The European Union decided to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s regime after June 1, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said late Monday.
The decision ‘‘sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime,’’ Hague said after an all-day meeting that laid bare EU hesitation on feeding arms in a foreign conflict only months after it won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Hague insisted that Britain had ‘‘no immediate plans to send arms to Syria. It gives us flexibility to respond in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate.’’
No other EU member appeared to have immediate plans to send arms to the rebels. ‘‘I have not detected any readiness from anyone at this time to contemplate that particular option,’’ Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden said.
In a separate development, a spokeswoman for Senator John McCain said the Arizona Republican quietly slipped into Syria for a meeting with rebel leaders on Monday. She declined further comment about the trip.
McCain has been a leading proponent of arming the rebels and other aggressive military steps against the Assad regime. He has criticized Obama administration policy there while stopping short of calling for US ground troops in Syria.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France left the EU talks earlier Monday to return to Paris to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia to discuss Syria. Kerry flew to Paris after an eight-day trip to the Middle East and Africa.
The United States and its Arab allies are attempting to secure the participation of Syria’s fractured opposition at an international peace conference in Geneva, planned for next month.
Assad’s government has agreed in principle to participate in the talks. The United States and Russia hope to bring together the Syrian government and opposition for direct talks, but the exact date, agenda, and participants remain unclear.
Kerry said the United States and Russia are committed to starting a political transition that ‘‘would allow the people of Syria to decide the future of Syria.’’
Lavrov said much work remains if any peace conference is going to make headway. He also signaled continued disagreement with Washington on the participants at the conference, saying it should include more parties — an apparent reference to Iran.
Britain and France — the EU’s biggest military powers — had been pushing the European bloc to lift its embargo on delivery of weapons into Syria to help the embattled opposition.
Several EU ministers said arming the opposition would create a more level playing field that could force Assad into a negotiated settlement.