Hague warns UK of Syrian 'horror'

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has clarified his government’s position on the Syrian conflict, acknowledging the country’s “moral obligation” to step up its assistance to the Syrian people. “We continue to believe that the best way to end this bloodshed and to protect all Syria’s communities is through a political transition,” Hague said before assembled MPs on Thursday. The Foreign Minister renewed calls for a diplomatic solution to the 22-month crisis, announcing six “principal areas” the British government would work on towards this end. They included intensifying diplomatic efforts, helping the Syrian National Council, pressurising President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to stop acts of violence as well as supporting the United Nations in its efforts to document human rights abuses committed by both sides in the conflict. Hague meanwhile acknowledged the possibility of an ongoing cycle of violence in Syria, after analysts raised similar concerns in the aftermath of President Assad’s controversial speech last week in which he dismissed rebels as part of an insurgent “fake Arab Spring.” “If that happens,” Hague said, “the international community’s response will have to be stepped up.” “The Syrian people are enduring unimaginable suffering,” the Foreign Secretary concluded. “They are at the heart of this crisis, their future is at stake, and our country and the world must not abandon them.” Hague's speech comes the same day that 10 more civilians, including four children, were killed in an air strike by government forces in Homs. According to UN statistics, 60,000 people have already died  in the 22-month conflict, with many hundreds of thousands more displaced into refugees camps across the Middle East.