Syria warns U.S. against bombing ISIS without permission [View all]

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zeina Karam, Associated Press

BEIRUT — Syria’s foreign minister warned the U.S. on Monday not to conduct airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham group without Damascus’ consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression.

Walid Al-Moallem’s words appeared timed to try to pre-empt any U.S. military action in Syria. U.S. President Barack Obama has resisted ordering military action in Syria for three years, even after a deadly chemical weapons attack a year ago near Damascus he blamed on President Bashar Al-Assad’s government. But now, Obama faces pressure from his own military leaders to go after the Islamic State group inside Syria.

Obama remains wary, however, of getting dragged into the bloody and complex Syrian civil war that the United Nations says has killed more than 190,000 people.

Al-Moallem’s remarks at a news conference in Damascus also marked the first public comments by a senior Assad official on the threat posed by ISIS, which has captured large swaths of Iraqi and Syrian territory.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/25/syria-warns-u-s-against-bombing-isis-without-permission/