UK foreign secretary says Britain has no current plans to follow US in considering providing support for anti-Assad rebels
Britain has no current plans to support rebels inside Syria, the foreign secretary, William Hague, has said, despite signals that the US is weighing up doing so.
The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, said on Wednesday that the Obama administration was considering "an array of non-lethal assistance" to rebels trying to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
However, in his evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, Hague said Britain would only continue to supply non-lethal assistance to "peaceful" opposition outside Syria.
"I haven't ruled out giving more non-lethal help but we haven't countenanced doing that beyond groups that are so far located outside Syria and are trying to pursue a peaceful democratic opposition," he told MPs.
One of the "constraints" was concerns that equipment could fall into the hands of al-Qaida, which is now reported to be operating inside the country, said Hague.
Number 10 had earlier described the defection of the Syrian deputy oil minister, Abdo Hussameldin – to, in his words, "join the revolution of this dignified people" – as an "important moment".
The foreign secretary said negotiations in New York this week over a UN security council resolution calling for an end to the violence were "difficult" because of continued opposition from Russia and China.
Given their reluctance, Hague said it would not be "realistic" to get a stronger resolution calling for the International Criminal Court to try Assad and other key figures in the regime, who were compared by committee member Sir John Stanley to the Nazi "SS extermination squads".
Russia and China were paying a "diplomatic price" throughout the Arab world for having used their vetoes to block a previous attempt to agree a resolution, said Hague.
"If our view is correct that the Assad regime cannot recover its credibility internationally or internally after spilling so much blood and that one way or another it is doomed, then it is in the national interest of Russia and China to support a political transition at some stage," he said.
Britain was continuing to work for a UN security council resolution based on an Arab League plan calling for Assad to step down, paving the way for the transition to a new government, said Hague.
"The violent overthrow of the Assad regime has unknowable consequences for that region and neighbouring countries, similarly the successful violent repression of opposition by Assad's regime leaves a totally unsustainable situation and also is a threat to peace and stability in that region," he said.
He also played down the prospect of opening up international humanitarian aid corridors into Syria, saying it would require "overwhelming military force" unless the Syrian government was prepared to allow access, which it has so far refused.