LONDON (AFP) ― The situation in Syria resembles that of Bosnia in the 1990s, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday.
Syria seemed on the edge of collapse into sectarian civil war, he said, as he refused to rule out the option of military intervention.
“We don’t know how things are going to develop. Syria is on the edge of a collapse or of a sectarian civil war, and so I don’t think we can rule anything out,” Hague told Sky News television.
“But it is not so much like Libya last year, where we had, of course, a successful intervention to save lives.
“It is looking more like Bosnia in the 1990s, of being on the edge of a sectarian conflict in which neighboring villages are attacking and killing each other.
“The Russians are concerned about that scenario,” he added.
He urged Moscow to use its influence over Damascus to get the violence stopped.
“The Russians are not wedded to Assad being in power; they just want Syrians to decide their own future.
“Well, that’s exactly what we want ― but they can’t decide their own future while they are being killed, their bodies burnt, the monitors shot at.”
“So it requires Russia to use its leverage to say to the Assad regime: ‘you have to follow the Annan plan.’ And if we call a conference together it will be about ensuring that such a plan is fully implemented so that there’s a cessation of violence and a political process in Syria.”
Hague said he “welcomed in principle” the Russian proposal for an international conference on Syria, but warned it must “lead to a change and not just buy time for the regime to kill more people.”
He said the way forward was to adopt the peace plan of former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.
But he said it would be hard to see how Iran could attend the conference ― one of Moscow’s demands ― as it had already given Syria technical support and advised the regime how to suppress protests.
The Annan plan was the only way to bring the violence to an end, said Hague.
“Every other solution to the Syrian crisis involves a lot more death,” he said.
“What if the Annan plan fails completely because clearly time is now running short?” In the meantime we have to continue to try and find a united position with Russia on the way forward.
“If all of that fails then of course we will be returning to the U.N. Security Council for further measures, we will be asking all the countries in the Friends of Syria to step up the isolation of the regime, we will be greatly increasing our support for the opposition.
