LONDON, July 22: David Cameron has admitted the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has strengthened his position in recent months as he warned that the country faced a “depressing trajectory”.

In an interview on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, the UK prime minister also gave his clearest indication to date that Britain will not be supplying arms to the Syrian rebels despite pressing for the lifting of the EU arms embargo.

Cameron insisted he was still committed to helping the Syrian opposition but admitted its numbers included “a lot of bad guys”. He also acknowledged that Assad had strengthened his position.

The prime minister said: “I think he may be stronger than he was a few months ago, but I'd still describe the situation as a stalemate. And yes, you do have problems with part of the opposition that is extreme, that we should have nothing to do with.”

But Cameron said it would be wrong to abandon the opposition—although he indicated Britain would provide only non-lethal equipment.

He said: “[Having extremists in the opposition] is not a reason for just pulling up the drawbridge, putting our head in the sand—to mix my metaphors—and doing nothing. What we should be doing is working with international partners to help the millions of Syrians who want to have a free democratic Syria, who want to see that country have some chance of success.”

Asked about arming the opposition, the prime minister said: “We're not intervening by supplying weapons, but I think we can with partners ... to strengthen those parts of the Syrian opposition that really do represent the Syrian people.”

Cameron denied his wife Samantha—who was deeply moved by the plight of Syrian refugees when she visited a refugee camp in Lebanon—was dictating government policy. The Times reported last week that she had been pressing for greater intervention.

Cameron said: “She does not influence my policy on this. I've been very passionate about this for a long time. But I would accept that we're on a depressing trajectory and we need to change that.”

By arrangement with the Guardian