Secret initiative planned to train rebels to fight the Assad government a year later by marching on Damascus, a BBC Newsnight investigation discloses
Sir David Richards Photo: David Rose/The Telegraph
Britain planned to train and equip 100,000 Syrian rebels for a shock and awe campaign to defeat President Bashar al-Assad.
General David Richards, who was then the UK's most senior military officer, drew up the plans two years ago, according to the BBC's Newsnight.
The move was considered by David Cameron, the National Security Council and US officials but the plans were deemed to be too ambitious.
The Prime Minister had at the time being pressing for military intervention in Syria following the use of chemical weapons in the country, but in August 2013 MPs voted against the measure.
At the time the Assad government denied being the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack and blamed rebels.
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According to the BBC, Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, as the former chief of defence staff is now known, believed the initiative could help control civilian bloodshed during the war.
Syrian rebels would have been vetted and trained in bases in bordering countries Turkey and Jordan over a 12-month period and they would then march on Damascus with the cover of Western and Gulf fighter jets.
It would have been a similar tactic to that used in 2003 against Saddam Hussein’s military in Iraq and sources told Newsnight Lord Richards, then chief of the defence staff, told the UK government that the only ways to end the civil war swiftly was to let Assad win or to defeat him.
It was hoped this would allow time for an alternative Syrian government formed in exile, David Cameron was told.
However, Professor Michael Clarke, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told the BBC it was now too late for the West to get involved.
He said the UK had missed an opportunity train an anti-Assad force that would have had real influence in Syria “when he is removed, as he will be”.
The revelations come after the US looked set to significantly step up the country’s involvement in the Syrian civil war in a similar plan to Mr Richards's initiative.
The White House asked Congress to approve $500 million (£293 million) to arm and train moderate rebels.
Mr Obama’s request in June comes as the US seeks a strategy to confront Isis, the Sunni militant group that has recently seized control of large swathes of Iraq but has had a long presence in Syria.
The UK government did not respond to Newsnight’s request for comment but Whitehall sources told the programme the plans had been considered by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve as well as the PM.
It has been three years since civil war broke out in Syria, a nation which was one of the top three most welcoming to refugees according to the UN Refugee Agency in 2010.
But now millions have been displaced, seeking refuge in neighbouring countries including Turkey, and tens of thousands have been killed.
A spokesman for the opposition alliance Syrian National Coalition, Monzer Akbik, said: "A huge opportunity was missed and that opportunity could have saved tens of thousands of lives actually and could have saved also a huge humanitarian catastrophe."
Britain planned to train and equip 100,000 Syrian rebels - Telegraph
Sir David Richards Photo: David Rose/The Telegraph
Britain planned to train and equip 100,000 Syrian rebels for a shock and awe campaign to defeat President Bashar al-Assad.
General David Richards, who was then the UK's most senior military officer, drew up the plans two years ago, according to the BBC's Newsnight.
The move was considered by David Cameron, the National Security Council and US officials but the plans were deemed to be too ambitious.
The Prime Minister had at the time being pressing for military intervention in Syria following the use of chemical weapons in the country, but in August 2013 MPs voted against the measure.
At the time the Assad government denied being the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack and blamed rebels.
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03 Jul 2014
According to the BBC, Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, as the former chief of defence staff is now known, believed the initiative could help control civilian bloodshed during the war.
Syrian rebels would have been vetted and trained in bases in bordering countries Turkey and Jordan over a 12-month period and they would then march on Damascus with the cover of Western and Gulf fighter jets.
It would have been a similar tactic to that used in 2003 against Saddam Hussein’s military in Iraq and sources told Newsnight Lord Richards, then chief of the defence staff, told the UK government that the only ways to end the civil war swiftly was to let Assad win or to defeat him.
It was hoped this would allow time for an alternative Syrian government formed in exile, David Cameron was told.
However, Professor Michael Clarke, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told the BBC it was now too late for the West to get involved.
He said the UK had missed an opportunity train an anti-Assad force that would have had real influence in Syria “when he is removed, as he will be”.
The revelations come after the US looked set to significantly step up the country’s involvement in the Syrian civil war in a similar plan to Mr Richards's initiative.
The White House asked Congress to approve $500 million (£293 million) to arm and train moderate rebels.
Mr Obama’s request in June comes as the US seeks a strategy to confront Isis, the Sunni militant group that has recently seized control of large swathes of Iraq but has had a long presence in Syria.
The UK government did not respond to Newsnight’s request for comment but Whitehall sources told the programme the plans had been considered by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve as well as the PM.
It has been three years since civil war broke out in Syria, a nation which was one of the top three most welcoming to refugees according to the UN Refugee Agency in 2010.
But now millions have been displaced, seeking refuge in neighbouring countries including Turkey, and tens of thousands have been killed.
A spokesman for the opposition alliance Syrian National Coalition, Monzer Akbik, said: "A huge opportunity was missed and that opportunity could have saved tens of thousands of lives actually and could have saved also a huge humanitarian catastrophe."
Britain planned to train and equip 100,000 Syrian rebels - Telegraph
