Terrorists linked to Al Qaeda are involved in the violence in Syria, British Foreign secretary William Hague has said as he warned the country was sliding towards civil war.

In a statement to MPs, Hague said: "We don't want to see the (UN-Arab League envoy Kofi) Annan plan fail but if, despite our best efforts, it does not succeed, we would have to consider other options for resolving the crisis.

"In our view all options would then be on the table".

The Syrian regime and militias supporting President Bashar Assad had committed "savage crimes".

Hague said. The tactics were "horrifyingly reminiscent of the Balkans in the 1990s" he said, following reports of massacres of women and children.

But he said there had also been violence from opposition groups and warned that Al Qaeda-linked groups were seeking to exploit the situation.

"We also have reason to believe that terrorist groups affiliated to Al Qaeda have committed attacks designed to exacerbate the violence, with serious implications for international security," he told MPs.

Prime Minister David Cameron will discuss the situation with other G20 leaders at the group of leading countries' meeting in Mexico later this month, Hague said.
The Foreign Secretary said: "Each day reports emerge of savage crimes.

"The Syrian military are surrounding and bombarding towns with heavy weaponry and then unleashing militia groups to terrorise and murder civilians in their homes".

The Assad regime was attempting "with utter inhumanity" to break the will of the opposition in Syria and reassert control. "This is as futile as it is morally reprehensible," Hague said as he accused the regime of "inflaming sectarian tension".

As a result of the carnage, Syria was "on the edge of civil war" which could lead to "thousands more casualties, a humanitarian disaster and human rights violations on an even greater scale and instability in neighbouring countries".

Russia had a critical role to play, Hague said, as he called for an immediate end to arms sales to Syria.

Moscow has put forward plans for an international conference on Syria, but Hague said: "It would have to be a meeting that led to a change on the ground and did not just buy time for the regime to kill more innocent people.

"So in our view any such meeting would need to be based on a common understanding that it would lead to a political transition".

It should include genuine steps to implement the Annan plan and it should only involve nations that are committed to being part of the solution in Syria".

Hague said there could not be an open-ended commitment to the Annan plan.

"If it is not implemented we will argue for a new and robust Security Council resolution aimed at compelling the regime to meet its commitments under the plan and requiring all parties to comply with it," he said.

"We have already begun discussions at the Security Council on a resolution".

Work was also being done to increase Syria's political and economic isolation.
Hague said action was also being taken to ensure evidence of war crimes was collated and stored for use in any future legal process.

"The coming weeks must see an intensified and urgent international effort to stop the violence and restore hope to Syria," Hague said.

"The British Government remains absolutely focused on this goal. If all the efforts I have described fail then Britain will work with the Friends of Syria group to increase further the isolation of the regime and to adopt sweeping sanctions across the world.

"We will not rule out any other option which could at any stage stop the bloodshed and we will not relent in our efforts to ensure the political transition, justice, accountability and security that the Syrian people need and deserve and to support greater political and economic freedom in the Middle East".

Opposition Labour Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said the Assad regime had shown "utter contempt for the value of human life".

He said: "Fifteen months on, instead of approaching its end, if anything in recent weeks the conflict seems to be entering a new and bloodier phase".

But the international community was "dangerously divided" in its response, which was hampering attempts to end the bloodshed.

Alexander asked the Foreign Secretary how much time the Annan plan would be given before "more effective, alternative means of ending this crisis" were considered.

He also highlighted criticism of the British Government's diplomacy by former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown, who served as the UN's envoy in Bosnia.

Hague said he did not want to set an "arbitrary" deadline for the Annan plan, but indicated the mandate for the UN monitors expired on July 20.

"Inevitably the need to renew the work of the monitors before July 20 focuses minds in the UN Security Council, it will focus minds well before that on whether it is feasible or right to do so".