Top administration officials declared today that they are committed to acting alone if necessary in striking the Bashar al-Assad regime, after a vote last night in Britain’s House of Commons saw the body rejecting Prime Minister David Cameron’s request to endorse British military action against Damascus.
President Barack Obama pressed the U.S. case, and explained that he was considering a “limited” attack on Syria:
“It’s important for us to recognize that when over a thousand people are killed, including hundreds of innocent children, through the use of a weapon that 98 or 99 percent of humanity says should not be used even in war, and there is no action, then we’re sending a signal,” he said.
European powers, including Britain, had long been viewed as urging the White House to take more robust action on behalf of the Syrian opposition, and the vote in London was considered a setback in Washington’s efforts to assemble a coalition aligned against Assad.
French President Francois Hollande told Le Monde that Paris wants “proportional and firm action” against Damascus, and expressed readiness to move forward with plans to strike Syria:
“But there are few countries which can have the capacity of enforcing any sanction through the appropriate measures,” he said.
“France will be part of it. France is ready.”
France has deployed naval assets to the eastern Mediterranean to assist in possible military action. Meanwhile Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Ottawa has pledged political support to Western allies contemplating strikes. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week labeled Syria’s use of chemical weapons “undeniable” and called last week’s attack a “moral obscenity.”
Today he gave a speech describing the U.S. government’s “unclassified estimate of what took place in Syria,” which concluded that the regime had used chemical weapons multiple times against opponents and that a recent mass attack had been preceded by “specific instructions” regarding the attack.
[Photo: Cliff1066 / Flickr]