“Syria is not Libya,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said at the close of a two-day informal meeting of the bloc's foreign policy chiefs, referring to last year's NATO-led air campaign in Libya.

“What concerns us most is the risk of a civil war between Syria's communities and it will be the heavy responsibility of the Syrian regime if this threat of civil war is confirmed.”

As Qatar called in Cairo for the dispatch of Arab and international peacekeeping troops to Syria, Juppe joined his counterparts in saying that for the EU “military action is not on the agenda.”