UK calls for stronger sanctions against Assad regime

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As the army continued a massive crackdown in the Syrian flashpoint town of Hama, Britain on Monday called for tougher international sanctions against the regime of President Bashar Assad, but stopped short of demanding a military intervention.

The Foreign Secretary William Hague made a call for "stronger international pressure" on Syria after security forces killed 140 people in Hama on Sunday.

"We want to see stronger international pressure on Syria all round," Hague said in an interview over BBC radio.

To be effective, he said that it can't be just pressure from western nations but also from Arab nations including from Turkey.

Hague's tough posture on Syria comes as UK along with France, Germany, Portugal and US have been pushing for some kind of UN Security Council condemnation of violence in Syria.

"I would like to see UN Security Council resolution to condemn this violence against innocent people, to call for release of political prisoners and to call for legitimate grievances to be responded to," the British Foreign Secretary said.

But he admitted that divisions in the Council made this "quite difficult", adding that the situation was very frustrating.

Hague said there was no prospect of achieving a UN mandate for military intervention in Syria, such as in Libya. "It's not a remote possibility, even if we were in favour of that, which we are not."

"There is no prospect of a legal, morally sanctioned military intervention. And therefore we have to work on other ways of influencing the Assad regime," he said.

The step up in calls for international pressure came as the Syrian President praised the military for "foiling the enemies" of the state, BBC reported quoting Syria's official Sana news agency.

"The army's efforts and sacrifices will be admired," Assad said as Syrian tanks and troops re-entered Hama this morning shelling parts of the city.