© SANA/ReutersSyria's elected President Bashar al-Assad
Ahead of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, Hammond said, "We cannot work with Assad as a long-term solution for the future of Syria," but that it was possible to "be flexible" on the manner and timing of his departure.
Against a backdrop of Russian intervention in Syria, a move the UK government opposes, the Conservative government is pushing hard for a new vote on launching airstrikes of their own.
In 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote to bomb Syria when he was headed off by Labour's then-leader Ed Miliband. At the time the target was Assad, but now the bombing would be aimed at Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL).
On Thursday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC: "ISIL is organized and directed in northeast Syria [where it] is being targeted by America, French and Australian air forces."
He indicated the UK government wants to follow suit, saying "when we've got a consensus, we will go to parliament and have the vote."
But Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German has warned of the possible implications of such a vote.
"Stepping up intervention in Syria will only increase the violence, chaos and suffering there," she said last Thursday. "It will also lead to an increase in the number of people fleeing the already war-torn country."
Comment: Hammond and other pathological authoritarians like him are still living in an alternate reality where they think they can continue to overthrow governments whenever it suits them; however Putin has just changed the rules of the game.