US officials call for attack on Damascus

US State Department officials have called for strikes against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Dozens of State Department officials signed an internal document that calls for targeted military strikes against the Damascus government, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The “dissent channel cable” was signed by 51 officials involved with advising on Syria policy in various capacities.

“Failure to stem Assad’s flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield,” the cable reads.

The report said the cable repeatedly calls for “targeted military strikes” against the Syrian government.

It said the officials were critical of the US policy in the Syrian war.

The State Department has acknowledged the existence of the cable as confidential diplomatic communication, but did not comment on its contents.

The internal cable may be an attempt to shape the foreign policy outlook of the next US administration, an unnamed official familiar with the document said.

The United States and its allies formed a coalition that has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The coalition has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

MG