An Arab summit kicked off in Kuwait Tuesday with a call by Syria's opposition for "sophisticated" arms, while Saudi Arabia stressed the need for a change in military balance to "end the impasse."

UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, however, insisted on the need for a "political solution" to the conflict, urging an "end to the supply of arms to all parties."

The head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmed Jarba, repeated calls on the international community to supply rebels with "sophisticated weapons."

Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Abdulaziz, whose country is a major supporter of the Syrian rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, accused the world of "betraying" the opposition by failing to arm them and leaving them as "easy prey."

Salman urged support for the rebels, insisting that a solution to the conflict, in which regime forces have recently made significant advances, required a "change in the balance on the ground to end the impasse."

Jarba told the summit that a decision not to hand over Syria's seat in the Arab League to the opposition sends a wrong message to Assad, telling him to continue "to kill."

The Syria government's brutal repression of protests which erupted in March 2011 resulted in its suspension from the Cairo-based Arab League.

Its seat was allocated to the National Coalition at the last summit, in Doha in 2013, but has not been handed over because, according to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, the opposition has yet to meet the legal requirements.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in his address to the gathering, accused the Syrian government of lying in "pretending to accept a political solution" but was in fact "buying time."

AFP