President Obama says he is considering a “limited,
narrow” military strike against Syria — an aim that many Middle East experts
fear overlooks the potential to worsen the violence in Syria and intensify a
fight for regional influence between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
the challenge is to deliver the intended message to
Mr. Assad without opening the door to a takeover by rebels linked to Al Qaeda,
the collapse of state institutions, or a major escalation by Syria’s allies.
Skeptics doubt that the United States — or anyone else — has the information to
calibrate the attack that precisely.
That is partly because the United States is preparing
to inject itself into a conflict that is no longer just about Syria, but has
become a volatile regional morass that pits Iran and Hezbollah, the Shiite
militant group in Lebanon, against Qaeda affiliates backed by Saudi Arabia and other
Persian Gulf benefactors.
Iran’s and Syria’s defense ministers threatened on
Friday to unleash attacks on Israel if Mr. Assad was in danger. While Hezbollah
has said it would wait to see the scale and nature of the attacks before
responding, in practice, analysts close to the organization said, it is
probably prepared for any contingency.
source nytimes.com
