French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned on Monday that extremists could gain ground in Syria if the international community failed to deliver cash and weapons.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned on Monday that extremists could gain ground in Syria if the international community failed to deliver cash and weapons.

"With a state and a society collapsing, it is the Islamist groups that could gain ground if we do not do what we have to do," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told an international meeting at which a leader of the so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said the organization would need $500 million (370 million Euros) to set up an alternative government.

"We cannot allow a rebellion that began as (a) peaceful and democratic protest degenerate into confrontation between rival militias," Fabius said.
"This conference has to send a clear signal, (that) it has one concrete objective: give the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) the means to act."

France has led moves to have the SNC recognized internationally. But the ‘credibility’ of the opposition alliance has been damaged by mounting evidence that extremist are playing a central role in the campaign against President Bashar Assad.

George Sabra, head of the SNC, the main body in the coalition, said the opposition was desperately in need of cash and arms.
"We need a minimum of 500 million dollars to be able to establish a government," he said. "And we need weapons, weapons and more weapons."