THERE’S no doubt Bsahar al-Assad’s forces and the Russians are committing terrible war crimes including targeting hospitals (“Rescue workers search for survivors after bombing leaves at least 25 dead”, The Herald, October 13). It’s pretty hard to take moral condemnation of Russian “tyranny” from our Government seriously though, while it continues to arm the Saudi medieval style monarchy as it targets civilians, including in hospitals and schools, in Yemen, as Amnesty International has reported.

The Conservatives did not consider the US to have “returned to the barbarism of Hitler” when it repeatedly bombed the main International Red Cross aid depot in Kabul in 2001, despite the huge Red Cross flag and having been given its co-ordinates. Then doing the same again on a different day.

Or when the Americans attacked a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last year. Their story on why kept changing, including Afghan government accusations that the hospital had treated terrorists. This is also one of the unacceptable excuses Mr Assad’s spokespeople use for bombing Syrian hospitals.

Military interventionism is not realism. It is fantasy. Fantasy that our side never targets civilians. Fantasy about “interventions” that end wars and save lives, when one look at Libya or Iraq tells you otherwise. A fantasy about “moderate rebels”.

The rebels who overthrew Colonel Gadaffi with the aid of Nato airstrikes have gone on to turn on one another and fight another round of civil war, while also torturing or murdering anyone they suspect of having been a Gaddafi supporter, or who criticises them. They’ve even ethnically cleansed the entire town of Tawerga of black Libyans – killing and torturing many.

The largest Syrian rebel coalition – Jaysh Al Fatah – includes what began as Al Nusra, the Syrian wing of al Qa’ida. And the “secular” FSA is mostly made up of Sunni Islamists.

Even in Kosovo, a supposed “success” the main result was that Serb civilians were murdered and ethnically cleansed by KLA terrorists and criminals, instead of Kosovan Muslims being murdered by Serb paramilitary terrorists and criminals.

Only a peace deal will end civilian deaths in Syria. Intervention means at best more killed in sectarian civil war after Mr Assad’s overthrow. At worst nuclear war with Russia.

Duncan McFarlane,

Beanshields, Braidwood, Carluke.