AFP reports:

The Swiss government suspended arms shipments  to the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday amid a report that hand grenades made  in Switzerland had found their way to Syria.

The decision - described as a provisional measure - comes after the  country's Sonntagszeitung newspaper published a photograph of one such device  taken by a reporter shadowing rebels in the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, at the end of June.

While uncertainty remains about how or even if Swiss grenades are being  used by Syrian rebels in their fight against government forces, all arms  shipments to United Arab Emirates have been put on hold, the State Secretariat  for Economic Affairs (SECO) said.

"Although the evidence remains unclear, SECO has immediately moved to  freeze all arms export permits to the UAE," spokeswoman Antje Baertschi told AFP.

"We took this matter seriously because something similar happened last year when a journalist covering Libya found crates of Swiss munitions in Libya.  These crates were exported by a Swiss company to Qatar which signed a non  re-export agreement. It was an error on Qatar's part."