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// Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against his own people.
Royal Navy vessels are being readied to take part in a possible series of cruise missile strikes, alongside the United States, as military commanders finalise a list of potential targets.
Government sources said talks between the Prime Minister and international leaders, including Barack Obama, would continue, but that any military action that was agreed could begin within the next week.
As the preparations gathered pace, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the world could not stand by and allow the Assad regime to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people “with impunity”.
Britain, the US and their allies must show Mr Assad that to perpetrate such an atrocity “is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed”, he said.
British forces now look likely to be drawn into an intervention in the Syrian crisis after months of deliberation and international disagreement over how to respond to the bloody two-year civil war. //
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Yes or No?
Royal Navy vessels are being readied to take part in a possible series of cruise missile strikes, alongside the United States, as military commanders finalise a list of potential targets.
Government sources said talks between the Prime Minister and international leaders, including Barack Obama, would continue, but that any military action that was agreed could begin within the next week.
As the preparations gathered pace, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the world could not stand by and allow the Assad regime to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people “with impunity”.
Britain, the US and their allies must show Mr Assad that to perpetrate such an atrocity “is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed”, he said.
British forces now look likely to be drawn into an intervention in the Syrian crisis after months of deliberation and international disagreement over how to respond to the bloody two-year civil war. //
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Yes or No?
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// Syrian warplanes bombed rebel-controlled suburbs east of Damascus on Saturday as the Syrian army fired rockets and shells at towns around the capital.
The government continued to try to dislodge rebels around Damascus who have increased their presence in the city in recent months, according to Reuters. //
The Assad regime does not have a clear conscience. But they been bombing rebel positions around Damascus long before the chemical weapons allegations emerged on Wednesday. The above quote is from December 2012.
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The government continued to try to dislodge rebels around Damascus who have increased their presence in the city in recent months, according to Reuters. //
The Assad regime does not have a clear conscience. But they been bombing rebel positions around Damascus long before the chemical weapons allegations emerged on Wednesday. The above quote is from December 2012.
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No but they must have realised what they were doing shelling that specific area in the days after the attack.
Had they wanted to set their opponents up for the blame, knowing the attack was not of their doing, then it would have made sense for them to hold back for that period.
It is a shame that Assad has been allowed to do what he has been doing for so long, without even the realistic threat of international opposition. Now, in the resulting full-scale war, the moral high ground which the rebels had beforehand has been gradually eroded. Not only that but extremist elements have only been encouraged and attitudes against the west have only hardened due to the latter's inaction. that doesn;t mean that the west was ever obliged to act, but it is undeniably a factor worth reflecting on.
Had they wanted to set their opponents up for the blame, knowing the attack was not of their doing, then it would have made sense for them to hold back for that period.
It is a shame that Assad has been allowed to do what he has been doing for so long, without even the realistic threat of international opposition. Now, in the resulting full-scale war, the moral high ground which the rebels had beforehand has been gradually eroded. Not only that but extremist elements have only been encouraged and attitudes against the west have only hardened due to the latter's inaction. that doesn;t mean that the west was ever obliged to act, but it is undeniably a factor worth reflecting on.
Doctordb,
At the danger of giving you the same answer that you are not looking for for a third time, we should do nothing. Not get involved. Leave Syria to sort itself out.
The Assads have not suddenly become monsters overnight. They have ruled like this for forty years. I do not understand why we should suddenly commit to liberating the place after all this time.
At the danger of giving you the same answer that you are not looking for for a third time, we should do nothing. Not get involved. Leave Syria to sort itself out.
The Assads have not suddenly become monsters overnight. They have ruled like this for forty years. I do not understand why we should suddenly commit to liberating the place after all this time.
The idea is not to 'liberate the place' - that would plainly be silly.
Like it or not the situation in Syria has the potential to cause - is already causing - severe knock-on effects in our backyard. Doing nothing simply is not an option. We are already doing something, with humanitarian aid along with other countries at considerable danger to the personnel involved. There is also intense diplomatic effort but that effort is proving fruitless.
Meanwhile Russia protests that all action should be through the UN - which indeed it should except that every time that route is used the same Russians promptly veto anything meaningful.
At the risk of being corny the Father Niemollrr quote about evil only needing the good people to do nothing for it to triumph seems appropriate here. If Assad and others like him think they can get away with it as others have done in the past future dictators will not likewise think twice. The 'head in the sand' approach doesn't work. However that doesn't mean wading in with an invasion force of course. That was never a good idea and is no more so now
Like it or not the situation in Syria has the potential to cause - is already causing - severe knock-on effects in our backyard. Doing nothing simply is not an option. We are already doing something, with humanitarian aid along with other countries at considerable danger to the personnel involved. There is also intense diplomatic effort but that effort is proving fruitless.
Meanwhile Russia protests that all action should be through the UN - which indeed it should except that every time that route is used the same Russians promptly veto anything meaningful.
At the risk of being corny the Father Niemollrr quote about evil only needing the good people to do nothing for it to triumph seems appropriate here. If Assad and others like him think they can get away with it as others have done in the past future dictators will not likewise think twice. The 'head in the sand' approach doesn't work. However that doesn't mean wading in with an invasion force of course. That was never a good idea and is no more so now
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