Evening Standard Comment: Russia and a coherent approach to Syrian war

The Syrian crisis has just got that bit more alarming.

Russia has summoned the British defence attaché in Moscow to explain reports that RAF pilots have been authorised to shoot down Russian aircraft — this follows reports that RAF Tornados in Iraq have been fitted with heat-seeking missiles.

The Ministry of Defence has denied the RAF intends to shoot down Russian planes and has repeated British concerns about Russian intervention.

Yet misunderstandings of this kind have the terrifying potential to escalate into something more dangerous.

Russia is making the running in Syria. It has a coherent policy to shore up its ally President Assad as the only legitimate authority. It can also truthfully say it is fighting IS because Russian air strikes have been aimed against the organisation as well as against the rebel forces fighting the regime.

By contrast, the US and its allies are opposed to IS but are also attempting to overthrow the Assad regime and replace it with an unknown quantity: disunited rebels — quite apart from the Kurds — who are opposed to Assad and, as Robert Fox makes clear in this paper today, include some problematic Islamist elements.

Mr Cameron has declared that Russian military intervention is helping only to support “the butcher” Assad. Yet the unpalatable truth is that any attempt to secure a long-term diplomatic settlement in Syria may involve leaving him in office for now.

President Putin says in a TV interview that he wants to “create conditions for a political compromise in Syria”. That is an aim which the US and Britain should support. The Russians have offered Western powers the possibility of a joint diplomatic settlement on Syria. We should take them up on it. This may mean leaving President Assad in power for now but the Russians in return should concede that he should leave office once the immediate conflict has been resolved.

The war against IS is the great priority in the region and it cannot be resolved just by air strikes. It needs compromise — the least worst option may be the best.

Well before the Prime Minister has even publicly identified his aims for EU reforms prior to an in-out referendum, both camps are off the starting block.

Today Lord Rose, former boss of Marks & Spencer, presents himself as the head of the Britain Stronger in Europe group — notwithstanding his previous support for a more Eurosceptic argument.

What is interesting is his insistence that by leaving the EU the UK would be making a leap into the unknown.