Syria has approached several EU states, including Germany, requesting help on how to stop arms smuggling across its border with Lebanon, Germany said on Friday.
"Syria approached several EU states - also Germany and me personally - with a request for advice and assistance for the border controls on the Syrian side," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
The EU said in a statement it would draw up a report on possible EU help for border security as part of the existing UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.
Syria and Iran are widely believed to ship arms and money to Hizbullah.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said last weekend that Europeans could train Syrian forces to clamp down on arms smuggling, but denied he had suggested Europeans might patrol the border.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told a news briefing in Brussels that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had been charged to follow up on the plan.
"The first aim is to technically support the Lebanese army but also on the basis of some opportunites registered by Prodi, to study the possibility of European assistance for the Syrians," D'Alema said.
D'Alema said Solana would work, particularly with the Germans, to create a European programme that would then be presented to the United Nations. He noted that Germany had already agreed to provide personnel and technical support.
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