The U.S. is considering launching military strike on Syria in an attempt to kill or capture Iraqi Ba'athists, it says are behind the attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. The official added that new U.S. sanctions are likely to be implemented. However, he said that U.S. should be more "aggressive" after Tuesday's attack on a U.S. base in Mosul.
| Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please ... |
The officials remarks suggested that the U.S. believes the attack on the mess tent, in which 22 people were killed, was planned from inside Syrian territory. "I think the sanctions are one thing. But I think the other thing [the Syrians] have got to start worrying about is whether we would take cross-border military action in hot pursuit or something like that. In other words, nothing like full-scale military hostilities. But when you're being attacked from safe havens across the border — we've been through this a lot of times before — we're just not going to sit there," the senior administration official said. "You get a tragedy [like the attack in Mosul] and it reminds people that it is still a very serious problem. If I were Syria, I'd be worried," he added. Meanwhile, another U.S. official said that sentiment reflects a "growing level of frustration" in Washington at Syria's reluctance to capture Ba'athists and other operatives, the U.S. claims are organizing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. |