UK warns Assad to draw back forces

Britain has warned that it is ready to "intensify" its support for the Syrian opposition unless President Bashar Assad's regime draws back its forces.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said there was no evidence the regime was prepared to honour an agreement to pull its troops out of Syria's main urban centres.

In a statement, he accused the regime of using the deal - brokered by former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan - as cover for a renewed military effort to crush the opposition.

"They have ruthlessly subjected whole communities to an inhumane campaign of shelling, forced expulsions and executions," he said.

"They have attempted to attach unacceptable 11th-hour conditions to a ceasefire agreement as a pretext for continuing the violence.

"And the regime has violated the sovereignty of Turkey and Lebanon, firing over Syria's borders at people desperately seeking to find refuge from the regime's onslaught."

Mr Hague said that if Mr Annan's peace plan failed, the UK was ready to take the issue back to the UN Security Council to seek "a united international response".

"We will be ready to intensify our support for the Syrian opposition, and to support others seeking to do the same," he said.

"And we will begin the process of seeking the referral by the Security Council of the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

"President Assad and his closest cronies should be under no doubt that they will be held to account for their actions."