BRUSSELS: The chief of staff of Syria's rebel army issued a strong call for arms and ammunition from Western nations Wednesday, saying that if helped the insurgents could topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime 'within a month'.

"What we have now is little, very very little," Brigadier General Selim Idriss said in Brussels, where he spoke on the invitation of a group of centrist political parties in the European Parliament.

The lack of weaponry and munitions was hampering the progress of the Free Syrian Army and inflicting more suffering on the civilian population, he added, urging European Union nations to lift an arms embargo.

"There is very little support from the Western countries," he said.

Regime forces were using heavy artillery and SCUD missiles against civilians and the rebels needed anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, he said.

"If we have the weapons we need we can bring down the regime in a month," he told lawmakers from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.