Al-Qaida ‘exploiting Syrian chaos’

The Foreign Secretary addressed MPs on the latest situation yesterday as Syrian troops attacked a rebel-held town with helicopter gunships and shelled other restive areas.

The aerial assault targeted the strategic river crossing town of Rastan, which has resisted repeated government offensives for months, activists said.

Mr Hague repeated his call for the implementation of the peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, but said all options were open if that failed.

“We don’t want to see the Annan plan fail but if, despite our best efforts, it does not succeed, we would have to consider other options for resolving the crisis. In our view all options would then be on the table.”

The Syrian regime and militias supporting President Bashar Assad had committed “savage crimes”, he said, warning the tactics were “horrifyingly reminiscent of the Balkans in the 1990s” he said. But he added there had also been violence from opposition groups, whom Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi recently claimed were using sophisticated anti-tank missiles.

“We also have reason to believe that terrorist groups affiliated to al-Qaida have committed attacks designed to exacerbate the violence, with serious implications for international security.” Mr Hague told MPs.

The Foreign Secretary said the Assad regime was attempting “with utter inhumanity” to break the will of the opposition in Syria and reassert control.

“This is as futile as it is morally reprehensible,” he said as he accused the regime of “inflaming sectarian tension”.

As a result of the carnage, Syria was “on the edge of civil war” which could lead to “thousands more casualties, a humanitarian disaster and human rights violations on an even greater scale and instability in neighbouring countries”.

Russia had a critical role to play, Mr Hague said, as he called for an immediate end to arms sales to Syria.

Moscow has put forward plans for an international conference on Syria, but he said: “It would have to be a meeting that led to a change on the ground and did not just buy time for the regime to kill more innocent people.

“So in our view any such meeting would need to be based on a common understanding that it would lead to a political transition. It should include genuine steps to implement the Annan plan and it should only involve nations that are committed to being part of the solution in Syria.”

The Foreign Secretary told the House there could not be an open-ended commitment to the Annan plan. “If it is not implemented we will argue for a new and robust Security Council resolution aimed at compelling the regime to meet its commitments under the plan and requiring all parties to comply with it. We have already begun discussions at the Security Council on a resolution.”

Work was also being done to increase Syria’s political and economic isolation and was also being undertaken to ensure evidence of war crimes was collated and stored for use in any future legal process.

He added: “We will not rule out any other option which could at any stage stop the bloodshed and we will not relent in our efforts to ensure the political transition, justice, accountability and security that the Syrian people need and deserve and to support greater political and economic freedom in the Middle East.”

Mr Annan said yesterday he was “gravely concerned” about the latest violence.

Killings have spiked in recent weeks, with both sides ignoring the UN brokered ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect April 12 but never took hold.

In Moscow, the foreign ministry said foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Iran tomorrow. Russia and Iran are Assad’s strongest allies.