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France and Britain announced Thursday that they will seek an emergency lifting of the European Union鈥檚 embargo on arming Syria鈥檚 rebels 鈥� a move that would place new pressure on the Obama administration to drop its opposition to providing anything beyond nonlethal assistance.

France and Britain have emerged as Europe鈥檚 two hawks on the Syria war, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius telling French radio Thursday that, 鈥淲e have to go very fast.鈥� Waiting for the spring to take up the issue of the embargo 鈥� set to expire on May 31 鈥� will not be soon enough, he added.

Mr. Fabius said the meeting should take place before the end of March and warned that France could move ahead on its own with arming the rebels even without an EU accord. 鈥淔rance is a sovereign nation,鈥� he said.

Such a move would go beyond the Obama administration policy of providing rebels with assistance but not arms. It could also rekindle criticism from Republican hawks, who say President Obama is forfeiting a leadership role and dooming prospects for American influence in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad is forced out, as looks likely.

Last summer, before Secretary of State John Kerry became Obama鈥檚 chief diplomat, he had spoken in favor of providing the rebels with US arms 鈥� a position that was also supported by top Obama officials, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Mr. Obama rejected the idea, reportedly concerned that arms could fall into 鈥渢he wrong hands鈥� 鈥� Islamist extremists who are gaining strength and other groups unfriendly to the US. The official US position also holds that more arms will make more violent a civil war that is unlikely to be settled militarily.

Secretary Kerry suggested during stops in Saudi Arabia and Qatar earlier this month that the US does not oppose outside parties providing arms to the rebels to level the playing field. Both countries are assumed to be providing arms to the rebels, and Kerry cited evidence that arms are reaching the 鈥渞ight hands,鈥� which he defined as the moderate forces among Syria鈥檚 rebels.

On the same trip, Kerry announced a package of direct assistance to the rebels 鈥� including food and medical supplies, but stopping short of arms. That assistance was judged 鈥渢oo little, too late鈥� by some leaders of the Syrian opposition, as well as some Republican critics.

But others worry that the US is on a slippery slope toward arming the rebels 鈥� and that might not have a happy ending.

鈥淭he history of American assistance to foreign nongovernmental forces is long and sometimes nefarious,鈥� says Paul Londrigan, a political scientist at Pace University in New York.

The US trained and armed the mujahideen in Afghanistan, and now it faces those same forces in the form of the Taliban, he notes.

鈥淔ast forward to today,鈥� Professor Londrigan says, and 鈥渙nce again America is training nongovernmental forces 鈥� Syrians in Jordan. And implicitly, America is again allowing others to arm this unknown and unaccountable quantity.鈥澛�

鈥淎merica鈥檚 intent should be to bring about a swift end to the human suffering 鈥� and foster political reform,鈥� he adds.

France鈥檚 Fabius said his push to arm the rebels does not mean France has given up on ending the Syrian conflict diplomatically. On the contrary, he said, arming the rebels could push Mr. Assad to shift from fighting to dialogue. Ground-to-air missiles could dramatically impair the ability of Assad鈥檚 air force to attack opposition strongholds, for instance.

鈥淟ifting the embargo,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s one of the last remaining ways to shift the situation on the political level.鈥�