Sir, Can the world save Damascus? Should the world save Damascus? Is there time to save Damascus? My answer to the first two questions is “Yes”. But the answer to the last one is that time is fast running out.
Unless a bold, imaginative plan endorsed by the UN Security Council is put together very soon the forces of Isis will engulf the city, and the sort of destruction we have seen in Aleppo and Palmyra could follow.
To save Damascus there is one credible, but difficult, option still open, with historical precedents: to use the short window of opportunity to create a UN mandate for Jordan to administer and defend the city. During the early days of the mandate the Assad forces in the city would hand over control and move to that part of Syria which borders the Mediterranean.
In order for Jordan to undertake this massive task, which will stretch their own defence forces beyond what is safe, Jordan should be authorised to invite regional countries to help in Damascus. For the long Jordanian boundary with Syria, forces from the permanent five members of the Security Council could be part of the mandate but would not enter Syria.
Without such action the world risks losing one of the great cities of civilisation.
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Lord Owen
House of Lords