David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has split the western alliance with his unexpected proposals to open the door to arming the Syrian opposition, just as the US is becoming alarmed at its Islamist make-up and human rights abuses.
FSA fighters duck as they run through the smoke of battle to avoid sniper fire in Karem Jabal district of Aleppo which sees some of the heaviest fighting in Syria. Photo: Will Wintercross
By Ruth Sherlock, in Doha and Richard Spencer in Idlib Province, Syria
4:54PM GMT 10 Nov 2012
Downing Street is floating striking proposals to alter the European Union's embargo on Syria to allow arming the rebels, under the pretext of recognising their "right to self-defence". Rebels are demanding a shopping list of weapons they say will allow them to "finish the job" of removing President Bashar al-Assad.
But with rebel groups openly admitting to executing prisoners, and radical Islamist groups taking more prominent roles in the fighting, Mr Cameron's initiative has caused surprise in the US state department and elsewhere.
"It's amazing," said one western diplomat familiar with the startled US response. "Questions have to be asked in London as to what Cameron is thinking."
The diplomat was speaking in Doha, the Qatari capital, where a disparate collection of Syrian exiles has spent the week with western and Arab backers trying to cajole them into a semblance of unity. Mr Cameron and European allies, including France and Italy, believe that any success should be rewarded with a bolder approach by the West on providing arms.
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One rebel general complained to The Sunday Telegraph this week that the current policy seemed designed to create a permanent civil war.
"Personal weapons are provided, enough to leave the situation as it is now, in disorder," said Gen Yehya al-Bitar, a defector from the regime's air force, at FSA headquarters in Idlib province. "When the revolutionaries get stronger, and start to best the government, the international community stops weapons being sent. "
Then when the revolutionaries become weak, more support arrives. When you look at what's happened, at the support starting and stopping, you realise it is arranged so as to leave Syria in chaos, rather than to bring about change."
World leaders are hoping a more coherent strategy can be ordained from under the vast chandeliers of Doha's glitzy hotels.
But there the last week has been spent attempting to reconcile the competing demands of various factions inside and outside the biggest opposition body, the Syrian National Council, and the terms under which it would join a broader "National Initiative".
A vote to appoint George Sabra, a Christian former communist, head of the SNC executive was heralded as a step forward but did little to disguise the reluctance of the competing factions to set aside their ambitions for the sake of unity.
Diplomats said the apparently pointless arguments were actually an improvement on previous meetings. At one gathering in Tunis, security had to be called five times to break up fist fights between delegates. In Turkey, a delegate walked out in protest at his position in an official photograph.
Mr Cameron's proposal is an attempt to bypass both the stalemate in Qatar and the stalemate in Syria itself.
"Let's be frank, what we've done over the last 18 months hasn't been enough," he said on Thursday, reiterating his determination that Mr Assad be forced from office.
It involves directing the Foreign Office to deal directly with those wielding influence through the power of the gun. If the embargo were altered, it would allow Britain to act as a "quartermaster" directing the flow of arms, one official said last week.
The Telegraph understands that the approach is being forced on a sceptical Foreign Office, whose officials are scathing about the performance of opposition politicians and until this week were not even allowed to talk to armed commanders.
They are unsure how to meet the Prime Minister's demand for a renegotiation of the arms embargo, though one possibility is to insert a phrase allowing weapons to be sold for "self-defence". They say there is no intention for Britain to provide arms itself.
One senior Western diplomat said: "We are saying clearly, with a unified voice, that we are prepared to respond positively on recognition and extra assistance. We are all on board with recognizing the right to self defence."
The idea is likely to meet resistance from America.
The US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, clearly stated privately and publicly there had been no change in its decision not to provide heavy weaponry.
"The Americans are holding back – they are at the water's edge, but they are not yet ready to swim," said an informed source.
A western diplomat said: "The US is definitely the most cautious of everyone. If the US gave word the EU countries have expressed a readiness to act."
The difficulty is that the longer the West's intervention is delayed, the worse rebel divisions and atrocities become, making it ever more difficult to present a case for action to wary public opinion. Yet at the same time, the danger of more bloodshed and more chaos spreading through the region also increases.
"Obama has been trying to avoid a complete breakdown, but frankly that is now what we are heading towards," said one analyst, Salman Sheikh, of the Brookings Institute. "The British want to go further. They understand that they can no longer do nothing and that Syria will only be more gripped by chaos through inaction."
Eighteen months ago, Mr Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France bounced a nervous Barack Obama into action in Libya. Whether Mr Cameron will succeed a second time is another matter.
Additional reporting by Damien McElroy in London and Carol Malouf in Doha
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