The new peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is drawing up plans for a 3,000-strong peacekeeping force that could involve European troops in policing a future truce.
UN peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi Photo: AFP
By Colin Freeman
6:59PM BST 13 Oct 2012 21
Comments 24
Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran Algerian diplomat who took over as joint United Nations and Arab League peace envoy last month, has spent recent weeks quietly sounding out which countries would be willing to contribute soldiers.
Given the volatility of the conflict and the growing presence of Islamists on the rebel side, it is thought British and American forces would be unlikely to take part because of their past involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead, Mr Brahimi is thought to be looking at more nations that currently contribute to Unifil, the 15,000 strong mission set up to police Israel's borders with Lebanon. They alone are thought to have the infrastructure and on-the-ground knowledge that any peacekeeping operation would require.
Countries contributing to Unifil include Ireland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, one of which would be expected to play a leading role in the Syria peacekeeping force.
Yet the presence of any European on the ground in Syria - even from nations considered more "neutral" in the Arab world - would still represent a significant new Western military involvement in the Middle East. Experts fear they could be a magnet for attacks for both Islamists and regime loyalists.
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Details of Mr Brahimi's plans emerged as he arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for talks aimed at quelling rising tensions between Syria and Turkey.
Last week, following several days of cross-border shelling by the two countries' armies, Turkey intercepted a Syrian-bound passenger jet after claiming to have received reports it had Russian-made defence equipment on board.
Meanwhile, in a sign of the challenges facing Mr Brahimi's mission, Syrian human rights groups reported some of the heaviest on-the-ground fighting to date.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a rebel offensive that began in the north on Thursday had killed more than 130 soldiers in two days, and that another 250 were taken prisoner. The Syrian government, meanwhile, has been using ever more air power, hammering rebel units on the border with Lebanon.
Despite the escalating ferocity of the fighting, the British government has effectively ruled any direct military intervention in Syria for now, pointing out that unlike in Libya, there is no clear frontline, and that both sides are also backed by regional powers.
"The best way forward is engagement and diplomacy, coupled with pressure applied by sanctions," Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told The Sunday Telegraph. "Syria isn't Libya."
Mr Brahimi, 78, became envoy after the resignation in August of Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General, whose initial peace plan earlier this year ended in complete failure. Since taking over, Mr Brahimi has deliberately sought to dampen expectations, warning that it might be "nearly impossible" for him to succeed.
Yet he is due to visit Syria soon to try to persuade Damascus to call a ceasefire, and diplomatic sources say his office has been exploring the peacekeeping option in a "very serious" manner.
Already he is understood to have ruled out the use of African troops, who he believes would not be adequately resourced, and troops from neighbouring Arab states, most of which are seen as supporting the rebels.
"Brahimi has asked for the lists of troop contributing countries, and has already ruled out a number of countries, which essentially leaves European troops," a source said. "He is looking at all options and not putting all his eggs in the peacekeeping basket, but all information points to him exploring the peacekeeping option in a very serious manner."
Mr Brahimi is also understood to have much more effort to cultivate opposition groups than Mr Annan did, in the hope of eventually getting them to the negotiating table.
At present, though, that seems a distant prospect. Earlier this year, rebels refused to take part in a ceasefire, saying that they did not trust the President Bashar-al Assad's regime to honour it. And since then, they become much more equal players on the battlefield, whetting their appetite to push for all-out victory rather than a truce that might elements of the Assad regime intact. Any peacekeeping force would also require a mandate from the UN Security Council, two of whose permanent members, Russian and China, have so far backed President Assad.
On Saturday, the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, accused the council of inaction over Syria, saying it was repeating mistakes that led to massacres in the Balkans conflict in the 1990s.
"How sad that the United Nations is as helpless today as it was 20 years ago, when it watched the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in the Balkans, Bosnia and Srebrenica," Mr Erdogan said.
In a swipe at Russian and China, he added "If we wait for one or two of the permanent members ... then the future of Syria will be in danger."
Ankara had been hopeful that it might be able to persuade Russia, which sold Syria $1 billion of arms last year, to soften its opposition to military intervention, including a no-fly zone.
But relations with Moscow have deteriorated after Turkey's forcing down last week of the passenger jet, which Russia insists was carrying only radar components. Yesterday, the Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper said the components came from KBP, a state-controlled weapons manufacturer that makes radar-operated anti-aircraft artillery.
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, is expected to discuss Syria with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at a foreign ministers' dinner in Luxembourg tonight.
Elsewhere on Syria's battlefronts yesterday, government forces rained mortar fire down on the opposition-held Khalidiya neighbourhood of the city of Homs, while there was also fierce fighting near the city of Deraa, where the rebellion began 19 months ago with peaceful rallies.
Meanwhile, Syria's state news agency said Damascus was ready to accept a Russian proposal for a Syrian-Turkish joint security committee to try to stop cross-border flare-ups.
Additional reporting by Richard Spencer in Cairo and Tom Parfitt in Moscow
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24 comments
xvicex 1 minute ago
"Truce" in UN speak is 3-5 years of war. The solution like it or not is for one side or the other to win the war. Choose sides or don't but do not let the UN pull another Bosnia with "Safe Havens" and shadow "Truce"
steve1947 3 minutes ago
Meanwhile in the WH, He bows to the east 5 times a day.
Milehigh mayhem 26 minutes ago
3000 sitting ducks
aberdeenvet 29 minutes ago
Not one troop should be from the U.S. Let the U.N. get their cannon fodder from the Muslim members of the organization. They don't want us there anyhow. Let the Muslims police their own atrocities. (Edited by author 27 minutes ago)
______ joelbanks 14 minutes ago
You forget which country's senior diplomat and leading senators titivated the so-called Arab spring. You broke it; you pay for it should apply here
dominic payne 43 minutes ago
UN sending in 3000 peacekeepers? How much you want to bet that 2,750 of them will be US troops?
Tumbleweed 46 minutes ago
Send the peace keepers to Syria! Great idea! Remember, no bullets, okay!
carl6352 47 minutes ago
why? all you do is stand around unarmed and do nothing to stop whats going on. we see this all over the world for the 70 years you have been squatting in my country
mamasview 53 minutes ago
I am glad to see they are not expecting our participation. I am sick of seeing our young people dying to bail out these countries that then turn on us. Of course, they still expect hand outs to 'rebuild' that end up going into the pockets of their corrupt governments.
hotmale Today 10:06 PM
What a nit-wit! Ireland, France, Spain, Italy....all got loads of cash to spare for fruitless military interventions. Only some mighty backhanders from the gulf states to put their soldiers in the firing line. Germany wisely no longer goes in for this sort of thing prefering to concentrate on peaceful means to ruin their partners. No arabs forces, of course, the only purpose they serve is to repress their own unarmed populations. Maybe the Palestinians would serve well. They are pretty much neutral, have no morals or scruples and don't have any objection to mass murder. Why would any country wish to get involved in the quagmire of Syria?
Denny Craneftw Today 09:57 PM
Let's see... Russia and Iran support Assad and his regime and al-Qaeda supports the "rebels". I'm still trying to figure out who the good guys are here?
______ Alison 53 minutes ago
Send money
hotmale Today 10:07 PM
Good guys? In this part of the world? They do not exist
Beverly Hemmann Today 09:41 PM
We have no business being in Syria. We had no business being in Egypt. We had no business being in Libya. The Sunnis, the Shia and the Salafis have their own agenda, and it has nothing to do with democracy. Let the Middle East handle their own problems.
______ xvicex 5 seconds ago
Ignore all that business and the business comes to you.
Christopher L. Jackson Today 09:22 PM
Syria is the last leg of the arabian pipeline that goes to Turkey. Syria is the last section of the pipeline and the west wants a pro western pro pipeline regime in power to complete it. War is all about commodities and money http://www.infowars.com/the-wa...
______ Denny Craneftw Today 10:00 PM
And not ever about religion and ideology? You're naive at best... and that's exemplified by your posting of a link to the Alex Jones site.
wiliam N Booth Today 09:18 PM
If Obama is reelected he will get our military into Syria because The U.N. will ask him to.
Alohajonny Today 09:06 PM
Stay out of it America screw the UN
graham09 Today 08:39 PM
Any oil over there?If yes we know who the first two countries would be.....
Kedzie Today 08:38 PM
Let them go at it. It's always a good day when Muslims are just killing other Muslims and not innocent citizens of civilized nations. johndeed Today 08:32 PM No UK forces in it please.
Shears_of_Atropos Today 07:56 PM
"Peacekeepers"? More like "observers" who will stand around and watch, and then file reports. That's the rule, to avoid mission creep. You can't keep a peace that doesn't exist.
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