BICOM

Britain has been asked to take a leading role in establishing an international “contact group” to co-ordinate Western and Arab policy towards the crisis in Syria, according to reports in the British media this morning. The Guardian reports that King Abdullah of Jordan, whilst meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday, raised the idea that Britain should help out in setting up a forum to coordinate Western and Arab policy towards the Syrian crisis. The Telegraph, meanwhile, quotes a senior Arab diplomat, who says that Britain has been contacted directly and encouraged to act as a “team captain”. The senior Arab diplomat said, “The West needs to lead and the international community needs to talk about what to do when the dam bursts in Syria. Leaving it all up to us you are going to get a lot of shenanigans. If you need a team captain on this you have got to go to the West.”

Arab League foreign ministers yesterday gave the Syrian government three days to sign an agreement to end the crackdown on anti-government protesters and to allow a group of League observers into the country, to make sure security and pro-government forces do not attack peaceful demonstrators. The Arab League ministers refrained from detailing what would happen if Syria did not comply after the three-day deadline. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani said, “We do not want to talk about a last-ditch attempt because I do not want this to sound like a warning. What I can say is that we are close to the end of the road as far as the (Arab League’s) efforts on this front are concerned.”

Yesterday saw more attacks orchestrated by the Syrian regime on Arab embassies in Damascus, and the most daring armed opposition raid yet, on a key security facility near the capital.