Israel: Not Encouraging US to Attack Syria

Steinitz Adds That Syria War, Iran War 'Unrelated'

Israeli officials today sought to clarify Tuesday’s allegation of Syrian chemical weapons use does not mean that they are encouraging the US to attack Syria over the “red line” previously set by the Obama Administration.

Some officials had been suggesting that if the US failed to attack Syria after Israeli claim it could “embolden” Syria as well as Iran, who the US has also regularly threatened to attack, that those threats aren’t serious.

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz insisted that was not the case, saying that they “never asked, nor did we encourage” any sort of US military action against Syria.

Steinitz went on to dismiss claims of a link to the threats to attack Iran, saying the long-standing threats to attack Iran are “a completely different matter” and that there is no linkage between that and Syria.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.