Ex-UK diplomat warns on Syria intervention

A former British politician has warned against a potential foreign military intervention in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the chairman of the United Nations Association in the UK and a former ambassador to the UN, urged the British government to avoid any hasty decisions on the issue and supported a long-term plan obtained with Moscow’s backing, The Telegraph reported.

“The lesson from Iraq is that you wait for an objective government to give its view in the evidence. If America, France and Britain went ahead without that they would have the Russians on the other side saying ‘You’ve done it again’,” Greenstock said.

On August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that 1,300 people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.

However, Damascus categorically rejected the baseless claim, and announced later that the chemical attack had actually been carried out by the militants themselves as a false flag operation.