David Cameron considered ordering British special forces to board and impound a Russian ship suspected of carrying arms to Syria, it has emerged.
A boy holds placard reading "Russia is the Syrian people's enemy", during a demonstration against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Sermada near Idlib
By Robert Winnett, Adrian Blomfield and Mark Hughes
8:41PM BST 20 Jun 2012
Cobra, the Government's emergency security committee, met several times as the MV Alaed approached British waters.
With the United States placing pressure on Britain to halt the vessel, the prime minister was regularly briefed on the situation. It is understood that he was presented with several options including a military seizure of the ship.
Avoiding a confrontation that could have damaged already strained ties with Russia, the government instead took action to ensure that the Alaed's insurance cover was withdrawn.
The ship, which Western officials said was carrying a military cargo including Hind-D Mi-25 helicopter gunships and anti-aircraft defence systems, changed course about 50 miles off the north coast of Scotland. It is now showing that its next port of call is Murmansk, according to the UK National Maritime Information Centre.
The ship's owners, the Russian operator Femco, denied it was ferrying arms to Syria.
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"Reports about illegal actions of the Alaed's owner are inaccurate," it said in a statement. "The vessel is currently making a regular commercial voyage, in full accordance with international norms and rules."
Meanwhile in Syria itself, the Red Cross said it will try to evacuate hundreds of civilians trapped in and around Homs.
Violence on Wednesday killed at least 60 people, more than a third of them government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as activists spoke of a "desperate" situation in and around Homs.
The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations compared the bloody situation in the country to last summer's British riots.
Approximately 15,000 people have been murdered in Syria compared with five deaths during the riots which swept England for four days last August.
"You may remember the Prime Minister of England what he said one day when the troubles erupted in London. He said that when it is related to the national security don't talk to me about human rights," said Bashar Jaafari.
"I am not repeating what he said I am saying we care about the human rights of our people but we cannot do everything alone. There are third parties in the domestic crisis in Syria."
Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN, called the comments "utterly grotesque".
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