European Union governments agreed on Monday, February 18 to extend sanctions against Syria for three months but said they would amend an arms embargo to provide more non-lethal support and technical assistance to protect civilians, Reuters said.

The decision, taken at an EU foreign ministers' meeting, was a compromise after weeks of disagreement between Britain, which was pushing for an easing of the arms embargo to help rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and a number of other EU countries opposed to letting more weapons into the country.