U.S. considering no-fly zone after Syria crosses nerve gas 'red line'

[xchrom]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE95C16E20130614


(Reuters) - The United States is considering imposing a no-fly zone in Syria, its first direct military intervention of the two-year-old civil war, Western diplomats said on Friday, after the White House said Syria had crossed a "red line" by using nerve gas.

After months of equivocating, President Barack Obama's administration said on Thursday it would now arm rebels, having obtained proof the Syrian government used chemical weapons against fighters trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Two senior Western diplomats said Washington is mulling a no-fly zone close to Syria's southern border with Jordan.

"Washington is considering a no-fly zone to help Assad's opponents," one diplomat said. He said it would be limited "time-wise and area-wise, possibly near the Jordanian border", without giving details.

[Igel]

1. Near Jordanian border.

Interesting choice.

Likely to be a Damascus' next target. Better to clear the hinterland and then deal with Aleppo and the NE areas under Sunni control.

On the other hand, also a great place for the Sunnis to press an attack on Damascus, so the help would be useful and give the US bragging rights if things go well (and plausible deniability if they don't).

On the third hand (who says we have to be human?) it messes with the Israeli border. It might protect the border from Assad's troops (who have proven to be reliable) and give it over to the opposition forces (who have no track record except one of deep internal divisions) while preventing Israeli overflights. If it's not too close to the border it would be a nice way of monitoring Shi'ite shipments of arms through southern Lebanon, the idea presumably being that rats don't do their work in the light (while providing no light to the Sunni Arab arms shipments).

[Catherina]

2. CIA will coordinate arming of rebels. NFZ no-fly zone inside Syria to be enforced by US & allies

U.S. to Arm Syrian Rebels

By ADAM ENTOUS and JULIAN E. BARNES

...

The classified order directing the Central Intelligence Agency to coordinate arming the rebels in concert with its allies reverses a long-standing policy that limited the U.S. to providing nonlethal support.

The White House declined to comment on the authorization, saying only that Mr. Obama had decided to ramp up "military support" to moderate rebels both in "scope and scale."

U.S. officials also told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the U.S. military proposal for arming the rebels also calls for a limited no-fly zone inside Syria that would be enforced by U.S. and allied planes on Jordanian territory to protect Syrian refugees and rebels who would train there.

...

The move is an about-face by Mr. Obama, who last year blocked a proposal backed by then-Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to arm the rebels. At the time, Mr. Obama voiced concerns that arms could end up in the hands of Islamists battling Mr. Assad.

...

More important, officials say, the White House was moved by concerns that Mr. Assad's forces and thousands of Hezbollah fighters may be poised for an assault on Aleppo that would deal such a serious blow to moderate rebel forces that it will be hard for them to regroup and bounce back.

...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324188604578543820387158806.html?mod=wsj_nview_latest

[xchrom]

4. +1

[1-Old-Man]

3. If the USA honestly cared about War Crimes we'd be in 100 wars right now

90,000 people have been reported killed in the Syrian conflict. 190 of those are being reported (by US intelligence) as having been killed by poison gas over the last several months.

Will we join in another war over 190 people? More people than that have been shot down in the US while we've been having a debate over guns, trying to decide if it might or might not be a good idea to somehow partially disarm our lunatics and we've done nothing about it. But if 190 people die in Syria, then hell yes, let's go to fucking war.

Where in hell is there any sanity?