French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday his country is considering providing communications equipment to Syrian rebels to encourage a “stronger revolt” against President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Al-Arabiya network reported that Fabius said that while France fully supported Arab League-U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan, it was also looking at other options.

“There is Annan’s effort but we are also considering – and the Americans have done this – not giving weapons but providing communications equipment so that a stronger revolt develops amongst the population,” Fabius told France Inter radio, according to the report.

Earlier this week, Fabius suggested the imposition of no-fly zones, latching on to the comment by UN head of peacekeeping operations Herve Ladsous that Syria was in a state of civil war. The French Foreign Minister concurred that “if you can’t call it a civil war, then there are no words to describe it.”

On Friday, the European Union announced a new round of sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, banning exports to Syria of some luxury items or “dual use” goods that could be used for internal repression.

On Thursday, Amnesty International described in a new report the horrible conditions in Syria, confirming reports of torture, executions, arson, and other actions by the government or its agents against Syrian citizens.