UK faces Syria chemical weapons ‘war’
Britain's armed forces would have to go to war in Syria if Bashar al-Assad's regime collapses, the outgoing head of the UK's military has warned.
General Sir David Richards, who is stepping down as chief of the defence staff after three years in the job, suggested the move could be necessary because of Assad's stockpile of chemical weapons.
"The irony is that arguably the regime is more likely to keep those awful weapons under control than potentially some of the opposition groups, the hardline jihadists," he told the Sun newspaper.
In the event that Syrian rebels topple Assad's government, his stockpiles of sarin, tabun, VX, and mustard gas would be at risk of falling into the hands of terrorist groups.
"The risk of terrorism is becoming more and more dominant in our strategic vision for what we might do in Syria," Richards added.
"If that risk develops, we would almost certainly have to act to mitigate it and we are ready to do so.
"I think it is a very big question. If we saw chemical weapons proliferate as a result of what is happening in Syria then we would have to act. Obviously we have contingency plans for everything."
Parliament's intelligence and security committee warned last week it had "serious concern" about the dangers posed to Britain by Assad's chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands.
Warnings from the head of MI6 lead the committee to conclude: "There has to be a significant risk that some of the country’s chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of those with links to terrorism, in Syria or elsewhere in the region – if this happens, the consequences could be catastrophic."
Yesterday it emerged Britain would provide protection against Assad's chemical weapons to the Syrian rebels.
Five thousand gas escape hoods, nerve-agent pre-treatment tablets and chemical-weapons detector paper are being donated as a "gift" to the Syrian National Coalition, foreign secretary William Hague announced.
