Britain should not be "squeamish" about an alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad to defeat the radical jihadists of Islamic State (IS), former known as ISIS, according to both a former defence secretary and the ex-head of the armed forces.
But Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has ruled out allying with Assad, saying it would not be "practical, sensible or helpful". Hammond told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "No. We may very well find that we are fighting, on some occasions, the same people that he is but that doesn't make us his ally."
Former army chief Lord Dannatt suggested the West had got its priorities drastically wrong in Syria, and said it should return to an alliance with Assad, giving up any demands that he relinquish power.
"The old saying my 'enemy's enemy is my friend' has begun to have some resonance with our relationship with Iran," he said. "I think it's going to have to have some resonance with our relationship with Assad."
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/22/assad-syria-isis-dannatt-_n_5698811.html