Obama called for regime change early on in the conflict and threatened military strikes against Syrian forces after blaming President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons in 2013.
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It was signed by 51 mid-to-high level officials who advise on Syria issues.
“The threat of strikes brings dramatic results”, Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said approvingly of the memo. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for instance, was among senior aides who urged Obama early in the conflict to take a stronger stand against Assad.
“We are reviewing the cable now, which came up very recently, and I am not going to comment on the contents”, Kirby said. Robert Powell, a senior Middle East analyst with The Economist Intelligence Unit in NY, said the opportunity was probably lost when Obama chose not to attack Assad’s forces in retribution for his use of chemical weapons in 2013.
But a lengthy U.S. and Russian led diplomatic initiative to persuade Assad and the opposition to begin talks on a political transition has yielded only the shakiest of ceasefires.
Such strikes would put the United States on a collision course with Russian Federation, which is backing Assad with air strikes, equipment, training and military advice.
The internal State Department memo is only the latest in America’s political and diplomatic tug-of-war about whether to militarily oppose Assad, a debate that has unfolded alongside the Syrian civil war.
Although no USA forces were present in the area at the time of Thursday’s strikes, the US military activated the emergency communications channels with Moscow aimed at avoiding accidents to tell Russian Federation to stop striking the area, the official said.
Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed frustration with the violation of the ceasefire by regime forces as he demands commitment from both sides to the cessation of hostilities.
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”.
“Fifty state department officials are effectively demanding Obama enter an alliance with Isil and al-Nusra”, Alexei Pushkov, chairman of Russia’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said.
The letter argued that neither the Assad regime nor its Russian sponsors have taken the ceasefire or negotiations seriously, and suggested that military action may be necessary to ensure a transition away from Assad.
In what other officials called an attempt to limit any damage to Obama’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”. “I will. have a chance to meet with people when I get back”, Kerry told Reuters in Copenhagen.
The cable also echoes the growing impatience among U.S. Gulf allies with the lack of military intervention targeted at the Damascus government to force Mr. Assad to resign and make way for a transitional government.
In the meantime, Mr Assad’s position has strengthened. Syrian government forces allied with Russian Federation also hammered Aleppo with artillery overnight.
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“It’s an important statement and I respect the process, very, very much”.
