Syria's Idriss to make shock visit to UK to ask support for military action against Assad

 A Syrian rebel leader plans to visit London to beg Foreign Secretary William Hague to support British and American military action against President Assad, British Daily mail reported.

The plea comes after a chemical attack, apparently by Assad’s forces, killed hundreds of people including children last week.

General Salim Idriss, head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is expected to arrive shortly, amid growing pressure on the international community to arm the rebels or launch air strikes against Assad’s forces, the newspaper said.

Mr Hague said the atrocity in Damascus was ‘not something that a humane and civilised world can ignore’.

Well-placed diplomatic sources say General Idris is likely to challenge Mr Hague to match his words with deeds and provide what he says would be ‘game-changing’ firepower.

Prime Minister David Cameron was due to speak to US President Barack Obama yesterday to discuss their response to the massacre.

The General fiercely criticised Mr Cameron last month after the Prime Minister appeared to backtrack on indications that he was ready to arm the rebels.

General Idriss said: ‘What are our friends in the West waiting for? Soon there will be no FSA to arm. The Islamic groups will take control of everything,  and that is not in the interests  of Britain.’

He added: ‘I have not had the opportunity to ask David Cameron personally if he will leave us alone to be killed.’

There are several means by which the FSA could be helped, but all entail risks.

 General Idriss has repeatedly asked to be given more powerful weapons, but there are fears they could end up in the hands of Al Qaeda insurgents.

Other experts have urged air strikes on chemical weapons bases, but these could prove ineffective.

Alternatively, the RAF could help impose a no-fly zone or create narrower ‘safe corridors’ that would allow refugees to escape, but there are concerns that Western jets would be hit by anti-aircraft batteries.

A full-scale invasion is highly unlikely after the ill-fated intervention in Iraq.

 General Idriss, 55, has vowed that he will not allow US-supplied weapons to fall into the hands of extremists.

He became leader of the FSA after his defection from the Syrian Army in July 2012. A German-trained electronics professor, he is seen as a leading moderate in the opposition.

He has also said he will return the weapons when the conflict is over, a claim that some commentators have viewed with scepticism.

However, international military intervention of some kind has become significantly more likely since the massacre.

 Mr Hague dismissed claims by President Assad that the rebels could have been responsible, saying: ‘I think the chances of that are vanishingly small. We do believe this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime on a large scale.’

Mr Hague has called on President Assad to give UN chemical weapons inspectors access to the site of the atrocity.

Last year, President Obama said the use of chemical weapons by Assad would cross a ‘red line’ and force a US response.

He said last week the massacre was a ‘big event of grave concern’, but added the US was seeking confirmation chemical weapons had been used.

 Source:Daily Mail