Saudi Arabia on Friday reiterated its call for airstrikes against the Assad regime, a few days after US diplomats pressed the White House to push for robust action against Assad.
Briefing journalists after talks at the White House, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Aljubeir said the kingdom has long urged Washington to lead a military response to undermine Assad’s control.
At the Saudi Embassy, Jubeir noted that from the very start of the crisis, Riyadh pushed for “a more robust policy, including air strikes, safe zones, a no fly zone, a no drive zone.”
He said Saudi Arabia wanted to arm the Syrian “moderate opposition” with ground-to-air missiles and repeated an offer to deploy Saudi special forces in any US-led operation.
US Secretary of State John Kerry’s reaction to a critical memo on Syria policy signed by 51 diplomats was remarkably mellow. “It’s an important statement,” he told reporters in Copenhagen on Friday, “and I respect the process very, very much.”
More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the Assad regime to stop its persistent violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
The Syrian Coalition has repeatedly called on the US-led international coalition not to limit airstrikes to the ISIS extremist group but to launch airstrikes against the Assad regime which is the root cause of the problem in Syria and the real source of terrorism.
The Coalition pointed out that the international community’s ignoring of the Assad regime is inconsistent with an effective strategy to fight terrorism, adding that limiting airstrikes to the ISIS group further fuels terrorism in Syria and the region. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
