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Military Strike in Syria Will Not Lead to A Political Process

A military strike in Syria will not result in changing the parameters of the conflict and will not result in President Assad agreeing to a political process.

published by
BBC World News
 on September 4, 2013

Source: BBC World News

As Washington debates over approving a U.S. military strike in Syria, Carnegie’s Marwan Muasher told BBC World News that the military strike has no clear objectives, will not result in changing the parameters of the conflict, and will not result in President Assad agreeing to a political process. While President Obama and French President François Hollande have argued that a strike would degrade the regime’s ability for a chemical attack, Muasher maintained that it would not do much to the regime itself “which has shown no mercy in killing its own citizens.”

"I think what is needed is a political process rather than more suffering for the Syrian people," he said, highlighting that majority of Arab public opinion is against Assad and against a military strike which they do not see as part of the solution. “We have to find a process other than a military strike, which is not going to involve boots on the ground, which is not going to result in changing the game. We have to find a political process before it is too late,” Muasher concluded.

This interview was originally aired on BBC World News.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.