Britain should 'move in the direction of friendship' with Bashar al-Assad, former UK ambassador to Syria says

The UK should reopen its embassy in Damascus and “swallow its pride” in order to build relations with Bashar al-Assad, a former UK ambassador to Syria has said.

Lord Green of Deddington said the Assad regime is “here to say” and called the Syrian leader “more a figurehead than a dictator”.

Britain should "move in the direction" of "friendship" with Assad, although it should not fully embrace the dictator until his government “lightens its touch”, he added.

Lord Green was the UK’s ambassador to Syria between 1991 and 1994. He then became Director of the Middle East at the Foreign Office, before being appointed as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

After leaving the Diplomatic Service, he co-founded the Migration Watch think tank, which seeks to reduce immigration, and sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

His controversial comments come days after the UK joined the US and France in launching air strikes against the Syrian government. The Assad regime is accused of using chemical weapons against its own civilians on several occasions, most recently in the town of Douma.

Troops loyal to Assad have been locked in a brutal war with rebel groups in Syria for the last seven years. With the backing of Russia and Iran, the Syrian government has regained much of the land it lost in the early years of the conflict.

Speaking to The House magazine, Lord Green said: “The reality is that the present Assad regime is now here to stay. His forces have made decisive progress on the ground, strongly supported by Russia and Iran, both now key players in the region. Even the Israelis have long learnt to live with the Syrian regime.

“As for ourselves, we will not get a sensible strategy for Syria unless we come to terms with our instinctive rejection of the Assad regime. Certainly, it is a very tough police state and has been so for decades."

The peer said repression in Syria was “not due to Bashar al-Assad alone – he is more a figurehead than a dictator” and claimed Syrians “know that, if they stay out of politics, they can live a reasonable life”. The turmoil in Iraq, Libya and Egypt suggests a “stable country” is preferable, even if it is a “police state”, he added.

Calling on the UK government to change its approach to Syria, the former diplomat said: “It is high time, therefore, to take an objective view of the Syrian regime and of our interests in the region. Our major interest is the denial of Syrian territory to ISIS and its allies. We need to be clear that Islamic extremists are the greatest threat to our own society since the Second World War.

“There is an Arab proverb that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Friendship is hardly possible unless and until the Syrian regime lightens its touch but, meanwhile, we should swallow our pride and move in that direction."

He added: “As Lord Kerr, a former Head of our Diplomatic Service put it in the House of Lords on 16 April, 'We should stop saying that the man who is actually winning the civil war must go before there can be any future settlement'.

“Indeed so, and a reopened embassy in Damascus would be a useful start. Mere vituperation is not a strategy.”