US Officials: Obama, Aides Expected to Meet Friday to Consider Military Options in Syria

WASHINGTON – US officials said that American President Barack Obama and his top foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider their “military and other options” in Syria, according to Reuters.

The meeting comes after Washington has refused to implement its commitments towards the issue of separating what it called “moderate opposition” from terrorist organizations in Syria.

Last September, Russia and the U.S. reached an agreement on Syria providing for the cessation of hostilities, joint fight against terrorism and humanitarian aid delivery, but the United States failed to implement its pledges to separate what it calls “moderate opposition” from “Jabhat al-Nusra” and launched a campaign against Russia and Syria that ended up with suspending the US cooperation with Russia.

 Reuters quoted the officials as saying that “some top officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate opposition”.

“One set of options includes direct U.S. military action such as air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots or radar and anti-aircraft bases,” said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, according to Reuters.

The agency pointed out that this official said “one danger of such action is that Russian and Syrian forces are often co-mingled, raising the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia that Obama has been at pains to avoid.”

The U.S. officials said they consider “it unlikely that Obama will order U.S. air strikes on Syrian targets, and they stressed that he may not make any decisions at the planned meeting of his National Security Council,” Reuters  added.

The US officials went on to say that one alternative is “allowing allies to provide U.S.-vetted gunmen with more sophisticated weapons, although not shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which Washington fears could be used against Western airliners.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, the United States, through its allies, including the Turkish regime, has provided all forms of support to ISIS and “Jabhat al-Nusra” terrorists under pretexts of being “moderate opposition”.

Hamda Mustafa