Britain, America and France ignored a Russian proposal for Bashar al-Assad to peacefully resign as Syrian leader three years ago, it has been claimed.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize winner Martti Ahtisaari claims that a Russian diplomat outlined plans for Assad's departure at a UN Security Council meeting in February 2012.
But Western nations were so convinced that the embattled dictator was about to be overthrown that they refused to enter into the negotiations, Ahtisaari claimed.
If his allegations are true, it means that the bloody Syrian Civil War could have come to a peaceful conclusion three years ago - saving hundreds of thousands of lives, blocking the rise of ISIS in the country, and even preventing Europe's worst migrant crisis since the Second World War.


Read more: 1 in 5 Syrians PREFER life under ISIS to previous existence under Bashar al-Assad | Daily Mail Online
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