THE EU weapons embargo against Syrian rebels was controversially withdrawn, following lengthy talks on Monday night, but it’s doubtful the policy change will make a blind bit of difference.

The new head of Syria’s main opposition group has called for mass defections from a regime struggling to survive by carrying out massacres, as the death toll in the uprising topped 14,000.

Syrian tanks rolled into a Mediterranean coastal town today in an escalating crackdown by President Bashar Assad, just a day after clashes with anti-government protesters left at least 30 dead nationwide.