Cameron warned not to even think about military intervention in Syria

A group of Conservative MPs and retired officers warned the prime minister that his plan to arm foreign-backed terror groups fighting the Syrian government would be the first step down a path that could lead to another British military invasion of the Middle East region.

This comes as the coalition government is sending redundancy notices to 5,300 Army personnel soon as part of its plan to reduce the number of soldiers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017.

The cuts are imposed at a time when David Cameron is contemplating to arm terrorists fighting the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

“Here we are yet again with a government reducing our Armed Services and at the same time talking about military intervention of some sort in Syria”, said Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset.

“In such an increasingly unstable world, events like Syria and Turkey can develop at any moment and yet here we are cutting our Armed Services to the size of a gendarmerie. Our Navy is now little more than something you put in the bath”, he said.

Earlier this month, 82 Tory MPs wrote to the Prime Minister to demand a parliamentary vote on any decision to equip Syria’s rebels.

Some Conservative MPs fear that any weapons given to the rebels could fall into the hands of some fighters who have links with al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has said that he will make every attempt to convince the Group of Eight (G8) authorities to support US plans to impose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, when they gather for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland this week.

The push for action comes after US President Barack Obama said he would give “direct military aid” to terrorists in Syria.

Cameron was central to the development of a no-fly zone over Libya in 2011, which resulted in thousands of sorties and strikes against people on the ground.

HK