‘UK must stand away from Syria’

British anti-war campaigners have in a letter blasted London’s interventionist policy in Syria saying, “the future of Syria is for the Syrian people alone to decide”.

The letter, to be delivered to the British Prime Minister’s office on Thursday by the Stop the War Coalition (STWC), said Britain is drumming up war on Syria based on unfounded chemical weapons claims, while failing to make the case why arming anti-government militants “would improve rather than aggravate the situation”.

“There is no clear evidence that chemical weapons have been used, or by whom. Carla Del Ponte, a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry taking testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict, has recently expressed ‘strong, concrete suspicions’ that sarin nerve gas is being used by opposition forces,” the letter signed by STWC chairman Jeremy Corbyn and Convenor Lindsey German says.

“And even in the event that chemical weapons have been used, you have failed to make the case as to why arming one side would improve rather than aggravate the situation,” it adds.

The group also said Britain and its allies have been engaged in “covert arming” of the Syrian terrorists stressing lifting the current EU embargo and “direct” arming of the militants will cause immense harm to Syrian people and destabilize the region.

“The aim of the intervention so far has been to effect regime change, again illegal under international law. The solution in Syria cannot lie in further militarizing the conflict,” the letter stresses.

STWC also said the history of western intervention in the Middle East shows such military moves have been a “key source” of the region’s problems.

The group further called on the British government to abandon its interventionist policy in Syria, especially seeing that the majority of the public are opposed to a military move against Syria.