Activists report 1,300 are killed in Syria gas attack

[eric]

Probably want to isolate Iran. Build up vassals in the West, and there is US presence in the East in Afghanistan.

[The Dharma Bum]

[Kane]

Too much focus on US action or inaction in this thread. There's honestly not enough reporting and discussion on outside influence via Russia or China and how that impacts the dynamics of this situation and the wider region as a whole. Multiple parties and players complicate the repercussions of any policy decided by the US and has to be weighed as well.

[Kane]

[PoS]

[exploited]

[Kane]

[Kane]

[exploited]

Indeed, which is why Russia decided to send Syria the anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons they did - or at least to say they are going to send them. This past month, Israel attacked a facility holding some weapons - notably, they never entered Syrian air space, and the Assad government denies Israel is responsible for the attacks, even though they clearly are.

It is an extremely interesting situation. The Syrian government can threaten Israel by handing over weapons to Hezbollah. Israel tries to prevent this by bombing arms shipments. Yet Israel goes out of their way to deny responsibility, and Assad pretends it never happened - why? In my opinion it is because they don't want Assad to fall. It is a devil you know kind of situation, and the composition of the Syrian rebellion is worrisome. Yes, the Assad government supports Hezbollah, but it does so predictably and plays by "the rules."

The jihadists fighting with the rebels will not play by the rules, and you can bet they will use chemical weapons if they get ahold of them. This is why Assad has been concentrating his chemical weapons into three or four places, rather than dispersing them, which would make more sense militarily, especially if he was eager to see them used to harm Israel.

The problem, of course, is that Syria pretty much has to respond to Israeli bombings. So long as they can pretend they aren't happening, it's all good. But when that fiction collapses, Syria will have to answer not only to it's own people, who oppose Israeli involvement, but to Assad's number one benefactor, Iran. This will expand the conflict.

This explanation makes sense, and provides a pretty clear rationale for why the US and Israel have played pretty nice so far. They don't want Assad to lose, but they don't want the conflict to expand either... which it most certainly will if the West does anything more than harm Assad's ability to use chemical weapons. Syria will be overrun by foreign elements when Assad falls, far more so than it is now.

Israel wants the US to take care of this because it doesn't want to see the conflict expand either, and they know it will if they act unilaterally in ways that cannot be denied.

[pisomojado]

Obama will sell Apache Helicopters to Iraq to help fight against the rebels in Syria.