|
US Ambassador: 'Intervention not an option in Syria'
After the US closed its embassy in Damascus this week, US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford gave his first foreign interview since leaving Syria to FRANCE 24 on Saturday. He called for an end to the violence and for Bashar al-Assad to step down.In an interview with FRANCE 24, the US ambassador to Syria has defended his country's stance towards President Bashar al-Assad and called on the Syrian leader to end his brutal crackdown. Robert Ford was pulled out of Syria earlier this week after the US closed the embassy because of security concerns. In his first foreign interview since leaving the country, Ford told FRANCE 24's Arabic channel the US were still seeking a "peaceful political" solution. Ford said military intervention was not an option and denied suggestions that his country's refusal to step in was encouraging Assad to increase the violence. "We are not dithering. We are not hesitating. The US position is that we reject any kind of military intervention in Syria, let's be clear about that," Ford told FRANCE 24. "We are striving for a peaceful political solution. Even the Syrian people do not want a military solution to this crisis. "We believe Assad should step down, but at the end of the day the Syrian people will make the decision, not the US," he said. Posted by: tipper 2012-02-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=338889 |