Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the calls for military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government “can’t but worry any reasonable person”.
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On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Federation and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to respect a fragile ceasefire, warning that US patience was running out.
Their urgent call for military action closely resembles the arguments Kerry has been making in Situation Room debates on how to force President Assad to accept a transition of power, administration officials said, according to the New York Times.
The State Department cable says Assad’s continued violation of a countrywide partial ceasefire – a cessation of hostilities – that was negotiated in February, meant a political settlement was untenable, the Times reported. Given Russia’s deep engagement in Syria, he said, the American public wouldn’t support the us commitment needed to force a settlement through military power.
Asked about the strikes Friday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said it raised questions about whether the Russians were actually in Syria to fight Islamic extremists.
An unnamed United States official familiar with the document said the internal cable may be an attempt to shape the foreign policy outlook of the next U.S. administration.
In what other officials called an attempt to control any damage to the president’s policies, one senior USA official stressed that it is only natural that “on a subject as complex and complicated as Syria that we have a diversity of views, and this letter reflects that”.
“Today, Russian aircraft conducted a series of air strikes near al-Tanf against Syrian Counter-ISIL forces that included individuals who have received United States support”, said the senior defence official, who requested anonymity.
The memo concluded that the USA must act, saying “it is time that the United States, guided by our strategic interests and moral convictions, lead a global effort to put an end to this conflict once and for all”.
“We must think about the possibilities of incorporating representatives of the opposition into the active ruling structure”, Putin said on June 17 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
One US official, who did not sign the cable but has read it, told Reuters the cable was unlikely to alter that, or shift Obama’s focus from the battle against the persistent and spreading threat posed by ISIL.
“It is unusual for a dissent channel message to have as many signatories as this one”, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Friedman said US President Barack Obama has been clear and continues to be clear that he does not see a military solution to the crisis in Syria.
“The notion that we could have – in a clean way that didn’t commit USA military forces – changed the equation on the ground there was never true”, he said. Russian officials question who might succeed him and argue that chaos would be worse.
“I don’t think it’s very realistic”, said Stephen Biddle, a George Washington University professor who has advised US commanders in the Middle East.
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The diplomats acknowledged U.S. military action against Syrian government forces would bring it into direct conflict with Russian Federation, but argued: “The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable”.
