Syrians battling Assad regime to get more UK help

David Cameron has pledged to double military support for Syrian rebel forces. Picture: Reuters

Britain will double military support for Syrian rebels to help them withstand the “onslaught” from Bashar 
al-Assad’s regime, David Cameron said last night.

Speaking at a White House press conference with Barack Obama, the Prime Minister insisted Mr Assad had to know he could not win by force. He also suggested Russia could be ready to take part in a peace process, saying there was “real political will” to find a solution.

However, the US president struck a less optimistic tone on the prospects for diplomatic movement.

Although the United States would be “very persistent” in pursuing a peaceful political transition, Mr Obama said: “I’m not promising it is going to be successful.

“Frankly, sometimes once the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we are seeing in Syria, it’s very hard to put things back together. There are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going, even if Russia is involved, because we still have other countries like Iran and we have non-state actors like Hezbollah, that have been actively involved.”