Wolfowitz: ‘too late to intervene in Syria’

In an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Wolfowitz said: “It might be too late. A lot more could have been accomplished if the international community had supported the opposition strongly a long time ago. The point is to give the opposition the means to bring about a victory – the sooner we can do that, more chance you can bring about a peaceful outcome, but I think that chance went away.”

Mr Wolfowitz, who was a leading exponent of the Iraq invasion, added: “What I would be doing is giving brave people who are fighting to get rid of a tyrant the means to do that and trying to get assurances from them about the nature of a post-Assad Syria.

“The Obama administration eventually did the right thing in Libya with the right encouragement and leadership from France and the UK. I would hope we see more of that leadership now.

‘Sitting back’

“The trouble is that by sitting back and doing nothing, we are liable to see the country break up. The longer it goes on, the less chance you have to bring about a post-Assad Syria.”

Mr Wolfowitz was speaking after 200,000 fled the city of Aleppo and the top Syrian diplomat in London resigned in protest at the Assad regime.

Khaled al-Ayoubi, the Syrian chargé d’affaires in London “is no longer willing to represent a regime that has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people, and is therefore unable to continue in his position,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

It added: “Mr al-Ayoubi was the most senior Syrian diplomat serving in London. His departure is another blow to the Assad regime. It illustrates the revulsion and despair the regime’s actions are provoking amongst Syrians from all walks of life, inside the country and abroad.

“We urge others around Bashar Al-Assad to follow Mr al-Ayoubi’s example; to disassociate themselves from the crimes being committed against the Syrian people and to support a peaceful and free future for Syria.”

The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville told Channel 4 News this evening that the UN Security Council faces particular problems in deciding an appropriate line of action.

“The Security Council is the body that could really do something, unless states wish to take independent actions. And the security council has been very stuck on Syria,” he said.

‘Final nail’

Mr Colville’s comments came after US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta called the battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo “the final nail” in President Assad’s government.

Mr Panetta, speaking at the start of a week-long trip to the Middle East and North Africa, did not offer any new steps the United States might take even as he renewed calls for a united international effort “to bring the Assad regime down.”

Helicopter gunships opened fire over Aleppo on Sunday and the thud of artillery boomed across neighbourhoods as government forces and rebels fought for control of the city.

The United Nations says 200,000 civilians have fled Syria’s second city, which is its commercial capital, after the regime deployed tanks and helicopter gunships to try to claw back territory lost to rebel fighters.

Many more are believed to be trapped as fierce fighting contnues between forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad and his opponents.

“If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad’s own coffin,” Panetta said, speaking to reporters shortly before landing in Tunis.

“What Assad has been doing to his own people and what he continues to do to his own people makes clear that his regime is coming to an end. It’s lost all legitimacy,” he said, adding, “It’s no longer a question of whether he’s coming to an end, it’s when.”

Stepping up assistance

Panetta mentioned the need to “provide assistance to the opposition,” but did not appear to signal any new support.

The United States has said it is stepping up assistance to Syria’s fractured opposition, although it remains limited to non-lethal supplies such as communications gear and medical equipment.

Panetta said he expected Syria to loom large in talks this week with leaders in Israel and Jordan, and flagged concerns about the security of Syria’s chemical and biological weapons sites and the flow of Syrian refugees.

His trip began with a visit to Tunisia, which Washington has held up as a model for democratic change in the Middle East after a popular revolt forced autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country in January 2011, touching off a wave of political unrest across the Arab world.

The North African country has since calmly elected its own government, defying predictions it would descend into chaos, while Ben Ali’s secret police has been disbanded and the news media enjoy unprecedented freedoms.

‘Something has to give’

Colville added that “at the end of the day if those who are fighting wish to fight there is not so much we can do unless the international community decides to act”.

He said: “It’s not really for us to call for a military intervention, for example, but clearly something needs to shift. Right now the only game in town is Kofi Annan’s six point plan. He and his staff are the first to admit it’s not really working.

“We have to recognise Syria is extremely complex. It’s a complex country in the middle of a very complex region. It’s probably much more difficult to deal with than Libya was. So I think the fears from the states are very genuine.

“There’s no simple solution and I think we’d be fooling ourselves if there was. There was a military intervention in Iraq, and look what that led to. So there isn’t an easy answer … Something has to happen. At some point something has to give.”