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Israel to ask Obama to use air strikes in case of Syrian missile transfer | World news | guardian.co.ukIsrael will use President Obama's visit on Wednesday to try to persuade the US to carry out air strikes on Syria if there is evidence that Syrian missiles are to be handed over to Hezbollah in Lebanon, or at least to give full support to Israeli military action to prevent the transfer.
The New York Democrat previewed the legislation Sunday, saying in an interview it was the time for more substantial American investment in the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "I think the Free Syrian Army needs help," Engel said on ABC. "We know who they are. And I think it's time that we make that move." In a statement Monday, Engel wrote the United States is "long past due to arm friendly rebels and turn the tide to allow for a more hopeful Syrian future." "Ridding Syria of Assad will provide a strategic setback to Iran, which uses Syria as a pass-through to prop up their terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon," he wrote.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, said distinguishing between the opposition forces would be difficult, as the situation has become increasingly unclear. "The challenge with the opposition in Syria is that it is its multilayered, multifaceted, and its kind of ubiquitous and its meaning, spread throughout the country, pockets in some cases, intermingled in others," Dempsey said Monday at an event in Washington. "I dont think, at this point, I can I can see a military option that would create an understandable outcome," he added. Engel's bill would authorize Obama to provide approved members of the Syrian opposition with "restricted lethal military assistance," as well as develop a program to destroy chemical and biological weapons in Syria.
Last week, Syrian rebels claimed to CNN that hundreds of their fighters were being given sophisticated-weapons training organized and authorized by the United States at a camp in Jordan. A senior rebel spokesman said 300 fighters had already completed the course and crossed the border into Syria on Thursday. The training was said to include the use of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, the latter aimed at the particularly vital part of the regime's military might, which has thus far kept rebels often in check. Asked about the rebel spokesman's claims, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the United States doesn't "provide lethal aid to the Syrian opposition."
Secretary of State John Kerry added Monday that the "United States does not stand in the way of other countries that have made a decision to provide arms" to the Syrian rebels. Since Syrian rebels first began trying to oust Assad in March 2011, the United States has waded into the conflict incrementally. In December 2012, Obama said the U.S. government would recognize the leading Syrian opposition coalition, though stopped short of saying the U.S. would join other nations like Qatar in providing the rebels with weapons. The U.S. has provided millions of dollars in funding and humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition, and has pressed them to establish a leadership structure.
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Israeli officials will not publicly confirm or deny a report in Britain's Guardian newspaper that Israel's leadership will try to persuade Obama - who is traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories - to have U.S. forces carry out airstrikes against Syria if evidence shows sophisticated missiles are being handed over to groups both have deemed terrorist organizations. But a senior Israeli official said, "Syria has weapons not even Iran has. We know where their weapons are and we are watching very closely. In prior discussion I have been in I have not heard a specific request to the United States in those terms. However, these sorts of issues have come up in discussions with America."
Syria "is fragmenting and no one wants to see chemical weapons or state of the art weaponry that Syria has fall into the hands of al Qaeda or Hezbollah in Lebanon," the source said, ending with, "We reserve the right to act in such a crisis. But if someone else would act we wouldn't have to." On January 30, a U.S. official told CNN an Israeli air strike inside Syria hit a convoy carrying parts of surface-to-air missiles intended for Hezbollah. Controversy remains, however, as to what was hit. Syria's leadership said Israel hit a research facility in a Damascus suburb.
President Obama talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House Monday, May 18, 2009
While Israel has not officially commented on the strike, Israel's then-defense minister, Ehud Barak, in January suggested during remarks made at a security conference in Munich, Germany, that Israel had a role in it. Barak said, "I cannot add anything to what you've read in the newspapers about ... what happened in Syria several days ago but I keep telling frankly that we've said - and that's another proof that when we say something, we mean it. We say that we don't think that it should be allowable to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon." Meanwhile, U.S. officials say a change on the ground inside Syria is necessary to change President Bashar al-Assad's assessment of the situation.
Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would not stand in the way of its allies arming Syrian rebels. His comments come as Britain and France are pushing the European Union to lift the weapons embargo in order to arm moderate Syrian rebels. Kerry acknowledged the need to change the military imbalance on the ground in order to change Assads calculus. Kerry made the remarks at a press conference on Monday at the State Department. Last week, Syrian rebels told CNN that the U.S. is helping in organizing training in anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons for Syrian rebels in Jordan.
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House Foreign Affairs Committee leaders detailed the triangular relationship between Iran, North Korea and Syria at a hearing in Washington. Lawmakers said Iran has been providing arms and fighters to Syrian President Bashar al-Assads army, and that North Korea and Iran have been working together on what amounts to a joint nuclear weapons program. Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen called on the Obama administration to get tough on the three countries governments. History has proven that diplomatic relations with these regimes have been a waste of time," said Ros-Lehtinen. "The administration must fully and vigorously enforce sanctions against this triangle of proliferation and have a coherent and coordinated strategy to counter these threats.
Democratic Representative Brad Sherman said the countries ties do deserve attention. We are dealing with three evil countries, or at least evil governments, but they are at very different stages," said Sherman. Sherman said the Syrian government seems to be on the verge of collapse, North Korean President Kim Jong Un seems to be focused on his own survival, and Sherman said he believes Iran poses the greatest threat to the United States.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey also called on the Obama administration to take action against the nexus between North Korea, Iran and Syria. Our primary and overall goal should be to break, literally destroy this axis, not destroy the countries but destroy the interaction between these three states," said Woolsey.
Woolsey said the United States needs to do more to support non-Islamist opposition in Syria, and that the Obama administration should speak up more strongly against what he termed the three rogue states behavior. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to hold talks in South Korea about the nuclear threats from North Korea.
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