Obama: No Final Decision on Striking Syria, Military Action Limited, Narrow

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama said Friday he had taken no "final decision" on striking Syria, as US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington knows "where the rockets were launched from".

Calling Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons a threat to US national security, Obama said the response would be "narrow" and "limited."

In parallel, the US president slammed the "incapacity" of the UN Security Council to act on Syria, warning the world must not be "paralyzed" on responding to a chemical weapons attack.
"What we have seen so far at least is an incapacity at this point for the Security Council to move forward in the face of a clear violation of international norms," Obama said, as he met Baltic leaders at the White House.

Obama said he has strong preference for multilateral action, but added that he does not "want the world to be paralyzed."
He also stressed that Washington will not send troops for a ground operation in Syria.
"This kind of attack is a challenge to the world," Obama told reporters at the White House.

Earlier on Friday, Kerry said the expected US military action against Syria would be a "tailored response" to punish President Bashar al-Assad's regime whom he accused of staging the reported chemical attack near Damascus, noting that Obama will consult with the Congress regarding any move.

Kerry said Obama "has said very clearly that whatever decision he makes in Syria, it will bear no resemblance to Afghanistan, Iraq or even Libya. It will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open ended."
"We know where the rockets were launched from and where they landed," he added, noting that "when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access was restricted and controlled."

In a speech that acknowledged that Americans at home and US allies abroad are weary of war, Kerry said: "We need to ask what is the risk of doing nothing."
Kerry cited the accusations of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, France, Turkey and Australia against the Syrian regime concerning the reported chemical attack.

He added: "We will continue talking to the Congress, talking to our allies and most importantly talking to the American people."
"History will judge us all if we turn a blind eye to dictators using weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Kerry stressed that Washington remains "committed to have a diplomatic process that can resolve this [Syrian conflict] through negotiations."
"The world's most heinous weapons must not be used again against the most vulnerable people," he stressed.

Kerry said the United Nations cannot tell the world anything about the reported chemical attack that the US "doesn't already know."
He claimed that UN investigators probing the attack are limited by a mandate to determine if an attack took place, adding that they won't say who is responsible.
"The question is what are we collectively, what are we in the world, going to do about it?" he added.

The secretary of state warned that international failure to take action against Syria would embolden Iran, Hizbullah and North Korea.

"This matter also goes beyond the limits of Syria's borders," he said, in a statement that left little doubt that US military action against Syria was imminent.
"It's about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons. It's about Hizbullah and every other "terrorist" group that might contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction," he added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team