UK policy in Syria has been hampered by "wishful thinking", says a former top military adviser in the Middle East.
Lt Gen Sir Simon Mayall said the UK had underestimated the staying power of President Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, he painted a picture of a UK being in a strategic muddle over Syria and described Russia's intervention as "hugely significant".
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Lt Gen Mayall spent much of his career in the Arab world - including
as deputy commanding general of coalition forces in Iraq 2006-2007, and
Defence Senior Adviser Middle East 2011-2015.
It has emerged
recently that during discussions in 2012 of possible plans to hit Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's forces, General David Richards, now Lord
Richards, chief of the general staff asked rhetorically whether the
prime minister was sure Britain was about to bomb the right people.
Lt
Gen Mayall says he argued at that time, "that the Assad regime would
fight to the last", but that policy makers had got caught up in the
excitement of the Arab spring and hoped the Syrian leader would be
swiftly overthrown.
The Russians, he believes were, "in many ways more realistic about the staying power of Assad".
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has argued in recent weeks that his country's
operation in Syria is designed to prevent the type of state implosion
that took place in Libya after Nato's intervention there in 2011.
The
British general's remarks show there is some sympathy for this
objective among senior officers in the West, particularly after Western
experiences there, in Iraq following the 2003 invasion, and in
Afghanistan.
Video Title: Russia intensifies air strikes in Syria for third day. Source: CCTV America. Date Published: Oct 2 2015.
