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US-Led Intervention in Syria 'Would be Worse than Libya'

© AFP 2023 / LOUAI BESHARASyrian men walk past a poster bearing a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad in the capital Damascus, on February 27, 2016, as the first major ceasefire of the five-year war takes hold and an international task force prepares to begin monitoring the landmark truce
Syrian men walk past a poster bearing a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad in the capital Damascus, on February 27, 2016, as the first major ceasefire of the five-year war takes hold and an international task force prepares to begin monitoring the landmark truce - Sputnik International
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Many in the State Department believe a Libya-style intervention could work in Syria if they put NATO boots on the ground there, former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz told Radio Sputnik.

On Friday the New York Times revealed a leaked internal memo, in which dozens of US diplomats expressed disagreement with US President Barack Obama's foreign policy. 

​The letter is signed by 51 US State Department officials and calls for the US to carry out military strikes in Syria against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces. This, they hope, would enable Washington to ultimately change the Syrian government.

Fred Fleitz, Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs at the Center for Security Policy, told Radio Sputnik that a Libya-style intervention in Syria would worsen the situation there.

"What happened in Libya is that no-one gave any consideration as to what would happen after Gaddafi left power, and the same thing could happen in Syria. If we just knock out Assad who would take over? I think Syria would get worse, because it could become taken over by a government run by al-Qaeda or ISIS) Daesh," Fleitz said.

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However Fleitz, a former CIA analyst and State Department official, is one of those in the US who believes that with the right planning and substantial military support NATO could carry out an intervention.

"My solution is that we have to have an international coalition led by NATO, with regional states to resolve the situation with the Assad government, ISIS and the al-Nusra Front. I don't think just attacking Assad is the solution."

"What was done in Libya was half-hearted," the US expert believes.

"This is where the phrase 'leading from behind' came for the US. It was mostly a bombing campaign, run by the British and the French. You may remember that they bombed so much they ran out of bombs."

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Despite his belief that a NATO plan might work, Fleitz nevertheless doubts that the political will in the region exists to support another regime change project.

"I think that if we had an intervention like this, it would have to have significant regional support, and frankly we're nowhere near that right now," he said.

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