Obama Still Looking for ‘Military Options’ in Syria

High-Level Discussions Ongoing for New Intervention

His last push to war in Syria was an embarrassing failure, but President Obama isn’t giving up on the idea, and is said to be pushing for new “military options” for escalating intervention in Syria.

“There is a general sense that it’s time to take another look,” said one official, and it seems the renewed interest in pushing for intervention is mostly about the collapse of the Geneva II talks, which ended when the US demand for unconditional regime change went nowhere.

At the same time, it’s unlikely the administration is going to make another immediate push for a ground invasion, after the American public roundly rejected that last time.

Rather, the high-level talks that are ongoing are said to involve imposing “no-fly zones” or dramatically escalating arms and advisers for the rebels, a back-door way for the US to insinuate itself more in anticipation of eventually finding an excuse for a bigger intervention with ground troops.

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.