All options on table, say Britain and France

UNITED NATIONS - The British and French foreign ministers said Thursday they are not ruling out any options in Syria, including a military-enforced no-fly zone to protect thousands of civilians fleeing the raging conflict in that country.

At a press conference ahead of a UNSC meeting on the growing humanitarian crisis, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague also announced greater aid for international relief efforts. Hague, the British Foreign secretary, said that a Turkish proposal for a safe zone requires military intervention, which the council is unlikely to approve at the moment. “But we are not ruling out any options for the future,” he added.

Asked whether the options include a Nato-enforced no-fly zone without Security Council authorization, he repeated: “We are not ruling out any options.”

Fabius said Paris and London are in “complete unity ... on this point. About the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Hague said, “It is steadily getting worse. We are ruling nothing out, we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios. “But we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”

Hague and Fabius said the UN Security Council - bitterly divided over the Syria conflict - would be unlikely to give its crucial agreement to any military operation to protect a safe zone.

Britain will give an extra three million pounds and France five million euros  to aid efforts inside Syria and in camps in neighbouring countries, the ministers said.

A UN appeal for $373 million for relief operations for Syria and refugee camps outside the country has raised barely $196 million.

Fabius and Hague said other countries had to step up financial assistance to the United Nations and other aid groups.