EU tries to ground Bashar al-Assad's warplanes by banning fuel supplies

Britain tried to ground the Syrian air force on Friday by securing a European Union ban on exporting jet fuel to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The relentless use of ground attack aircraft has been a central part of Mr Assad’s offensive against the rebels. Syria’s air force possesses 295 warplanes, of which 205 are ground attack models, including one squadron of the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24.

No other belligerent in the civil war has air power, so this has given the regime a key military advantage. Thousands of civilians have been killed in constant air strikes on rebel-held areas, particularly in and around the northern city of Aleppo.

The EU adopted a British proposal on Friday to ban the export of jet fuel to Syria from Sunday onwards.

“A significant number of innocent civilians – children, women and men – have died because the Assad regime’s air force has deliberately dropped weapons, including barrel bombs,” said Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East.

“This measure will ensure that no EU people or companies will be involved in jet fuel going to Syria. I urge all nations to ban jet fuel going to the Assad regime.”

In practise, Syria imports very little jet fuel from EU member states. However, the measure agreed on Friday will also ban insurance companies based in the EU – including Lloyd’s of London – from covering any shipments of jet fuel to Syria from any supplier worldwide.

Officials believe this particular provision will make it harder for the Syrian regime to buy fuel for its air force.

Mr Assad could, of course, turn to uninsured suppliers, but this would probably come at significantly greater cost. An oil embargo and other sanctions imposed by the EU in 2011 and 2012 were designed to choke off the regime's sources of revenue