By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – In Syria, where Bashar
Assad’s government continues to massacre its population, Iran is supporting the
regime and members of al-Qaida are in the country for their own purposes,
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters today.
“We remain deeply troubled and concerned
by the ongoing violence in Syria and by the horrific acts of the Assad regime
against its own people,” Kirby told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing.
“And we certainly have seen reports and
have reason to believe that Iran continues to assist the Assad regime in
committing these acts of atrocities against the Syrian people,” he added.
Other nations share that concern, the
Pentagon spokesman said, and some are providing lethal assistance to opponents
of the Syrian regime.
Kirby said defense officials have seen
but cannot confirm reports that the Iranians are using commercial airliners to
move arms into Syria.
“The larger issue here is that the
Iranian regime, Tehran, continues to support, in tangible and intangible ways,
the Assad regime,” he added, “and that needs to stop.”
At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney
said the administration has been focused on the need to bring about a political
transition in Syria sooner rather than later.
“The longer that Assad and his thugs are
allowed to brutally murder the Syrian people, the more likely it becomes a
sectarian civil war; the more likely that it spills over Syrian borders; the
more likely that it transforms into a proxy war with different players,” Carney
said, “including … Iran, which is already engaging in malignant behavior with
regards to the Syrian situation, stepping up that kind of activity and not
being alone in doing that.”
What’s happening in Syria, he added,
“only underscores the urgent need to take action to prevent further devolution
of the situation there, take action to support the process of political
transition, to isolate and pressure Assad into taking himself out of power so
that that transition can proceed.”
At the Pentagon, Kirby said defense officials
believe “al-Qaida has some presence inside Syria and interest in fomenting
violence in Syria.”
He added, “We do not believe they share
the goals of the Syrian opposition or that they are even embraced by the
opposition … The sense that we get is that it is primarily members of [al-Qaida
in Iraq] that are migrating into Syria.”
Syria drew renewed world attention
following a massacre May 25 of more than 100 people north of the city of Homs
which international observers largely blamed on forces linked to the
government.
U.S. policy on Syria is to work with
international partners to put diplomatic and economic pressure on Damascus to
help stem the humanitarian crisis.
The Defense Department supports the
administration’s position, Kirby said, while providing options to the nation’s
leaders for other potential responses.
“That's what we do and we would be
irresponsible if we weren't thinking about options, whether or not they're
called for, he said”
The military can be valuable in any
number of scenarios, not all of which involve combat, Kirby added.
“The point is we're doing the prudent
thing that we're supposed to do, which is to think through options. But we've
not been called to present any,” the Pentagon spokesman said.
“These are decisions that only the
policymakers can make,” Kirby said. “And again, we're supporting the commander
in chief's intent, which is to keep the pressure on [the Assad regime]
diplomatically and economically.”
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