SyriaDivisions in U.K. over Syria action
A U.S.-led attack on Syrian targets in response to the Syrian military’s use of chemical weapons in an attack on Sunni civilians last Wednesday may be delayed until next week in the face of strong opposition in the U.K. parliament to British involvement. Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs would be given a second vote to approve military action ahead of a Commons debate today (Thursday) on Syria, in order to defuse a parliamentary revolt. About seventy Tory MPs said they would join the Labor opposition in voting against the U.K. participating in the attack on Syria. Some of the opponents of U.K. participation say a UN approval of such an attack would be needed, while others say they want to see clear-cut proof of the Assad regime’s culpability.
A U.S.-led attack on Syrian targets in response to the Syrian military’s use of chemical weapons in an attack on Sunni civilians last Wednesday may be delayed until next week in the face of strong opposition in the U.K. parliament to British involvement.
Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs would be given a second vote to approve military action ahead of a Commons debate today (Thursday) on Syria, in order to defuse a parliamentary revolt.
Whitehall sources told the Guardian that the United States would be prepared to revive a back-up plan to delay the strikes until Tuesday, when Barack Obama is due to set out for the G20 summit in Russia.
The House of Commons will be asked today to approve a “strong humanitarian response,” possibly including force. Direct action would depend on a second vote which in turn would be held after the UN weapons inspectors had reported back.
The United States told Cameron that the wait for the UN report could not extend much beyond Tuesday. The withdrawal of the inspectors earlier than planned would limit their ability to collect more samples, and the 4-day Syrian effort to destroy and corrupt evidence would require even longer lab analysis of the samples that were collected – and it is not clear whether samples collected after such an effort to destroy evidence would yield a clear-cut answer.
As many as seventy Tory MPs threatened to rebel, and British opposition leader Ed Miliband said yesterday evening that he would instruct his MPs to vote against the government motion if a separate Labor amendment — calling for any action to be delayed — was defeated.
Later yesterday evening the British government announced that a second vote would have to be held before Britain joins any military action. The motion the government will ask Parliament to vote on says: “Before any direct British involvement in such action a further vote of the House of Commons will take place.”
The prime minister’s office said the prime minister offered a second vote because he wants to act in a consensual way. A spokesperson said: “The prime minister is acutely aware of the deep concerns in the country caused by what happened over Iraq. That’s why we are committed to taking action to deal with this war crime – but taking action in the right way, proceeding on a consensual basis.”
“So this motion endorses the government’s consistent approach that we should take action in response to Assad’s chemical weapons attack; reflects the need to proceed on a consensual basis, taking account of the work done by weapons inspectors; and reflects the prime minister’s respect for the UN process – something he made clear to President Obama several days ago.”
Dominic Grieve, the British attorney general, advised the U.K. National Security Council that military action against Syria would be legal under international law.
The Guardian reports that the NSC also agreed a specific plan for a British contribution to military action. This focused on a “limited one-off” operation and the measures that might have to be taken to protect British interests in the region, including the defense of the U.K.’s sovereign base in Cyprus, which is thought to be potentially within range of President Assad’s Scud missiles.
Sources said it was possible the United States would act without British support, the embarrassment for the prime minister notwithstanding.
France has committed to take part in punitive military action against the Assad regime, and its presidential system means that Francois Hollande is not obliged to consult the legislature.
In an interview on PBS yesterday, President Obama said: “We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out.” The president said Syria needed to understand there were “international consequences” for its actions. “If in fact we make a choice to have repercussions for the use of chemical weapons, then the Assad regime will have received a pretty strong signal that in fact it had better not do it again,” Obama said.
The United States and United Kingdom will today publish a joint summary of the intelligence which points toward the Assad regime’s responsibility for the poison gas attack of 21 August in Ghouta, eastern Damascus, which killed more than 1,000 people.
