For Western nations to pull out of Syria would be to relinquish the ability to prevent future horrors

As Foreign Secretary in 2013, faced with the use of chemical weapons in Syria, I recommended that Britain join in missile strikes against the Assad regime. The House of Commons refused to agree to do so, opening the way for emboldened Russian intervention and further such atrocities in the future.

One of those has just happened, as the dead bodies of children with white foam in their mouths, utterly innocent victims of a vile dictatorship, demonstrate all too vividly. If I were still in office I have little doubt what I would recommend today.

The UN Security Council should meet, and is indeed preparing to do so as I write. The United States should take swift military action, more extensively than last year when similar crimes took place, against the military facilities of the Assad regime. The UK and France should join in if they can.

Sufficient notice of such action should be given to Russia to allow for lives, but not necessarily equipment, to be saved. Crucially, the US should announce that it will not be withdrawing from Syria the forces that have successfully spearheaded the fight against the Isil terrorists.