No Syria option off table - Hammond

General Sir David Richards said if it was found that chemical weapons were being stockpiled in Syria Britain would have to act
18 July 2013

No option is being taken off the table when considering how best to approach the situation in Syria, the Defence Secretary has said.

But Philip Hammond said it appeared unlikely that British troops would be deployed in the Middle East country.

Mr Hammond's comments come after the outgoing head of the UK's armed forces said Britain risks being dragged into war with Syria if it tries to rein in the forces of president Bashar Assad and arm rebels.

General Sir David Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), has officially handed over the role to General Sir Nicholas Houghton, at a parade in central London. Gen Richards agreed that no option was being taken off the table, but admitted that if it was found that chemical weapons were being stockpiled, Britain would have to act.

Last week British spy chiefs warned Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of al Qaida militants if Assad was toppled with potentially "catastrophic" consequences.

The parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which oversees the work of the intelligence agencies, said there was "serious concern" about the security of the "vast stockpiles" of chemical weapons amassed by the regime.

Mr Hammond, who attended the parade during which he commended Gen Richards' time as CDS, said: "I think it's very unlikely that we would see boots on the ground (in Syria), but we must never take any of the options off the table. The military role and the Ministry of Defence role is to plan for contingencies.

"It's not our job to decide how and when and if to deploy forces in any particular role but to make sure that the Prime Minister and the National Security Council have the maximum range of options open to them so that they can use military options as part of a much broader palate of diplomatic and political initiatives to try to achieve what we all want to achieve, which is peace and stability in that region of the world."

Prime Minister David Cameron told ITV News, when asked if Britain was preparing for war in Syria: "No, what we are doing is we are helping the Syrian opposition - the official opposition who I think represent, and the EU has decided represent, the legitimate concerns of the Syrian people.

"We are helping them with training, with advice, with support, because we want to give the mainstream majority in Syria who want a peaceful, democratic, pluralistic Syria to have a proper future. That is what we should be doing."

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