What could possible go wrong?
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Moved by the Assad regime’s rapid advance, the Obama administration
could decide this week to approve lethal aid for the beleaguered Syrian
rebels and will weigh the merits of a less likely move to send in U.S.
airpower to enforce a no-fly zone over the civil war-wracked nation,
officials said Sunday.
White House meetings are planned over the coming days, as Syrian
President Bashar Assad’s government forces are apparently poised for an
attack on the key city of Homs, which could cut off Syria’s armed
opposition from the south of the country. As many as 5,000 Hezbollah
fighters are now in Syria, officials believe, helping the regime press
on with its campaign after capturing the town of Qusair near the
Lebanese border last week.
Opposition leaders have warned Washington that their rebellion could
face devastating and irreversible losses without greater support, and
the warnings are prompting the United States to consider drastic action.
Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a planned trip Monday to
Israel and three other Mideast countries to participate in White House
discussions, said officials who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on
the matter and demanded anonymity.
One of the main Syrian rebel factions
merged with al Qaeda in April.
One of the most prominent and powerful rebel factions fighting on behalf of the Obama administration-backed “regime change” operation in Syria formally announced that it was merging with al Qaeda in Iraq, sparking fresh concerns about the U.S. government arming, training, and funding the so-called “revolution.” The latest news comes on the heels of reports that the war-torn nation is on the verge of becoming a haven for Islamic extremists on par with Afghanistan and Iraq as foreign jihadists continue flooding into Syria.
Two days before the explosive announcement, purported al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called on all Islamic fighters in Syria to join together in the bid to oust the existing regime and seize power. "Do all you can to ensure that the fruit of your struggle, God willing, is an Islamic state,” the terror leader said about the conflict in his most recent message. The new regime, he added, should be “a state that would be a building stone in the return of the rightly-guided caliphate."
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