American President Barack Obama has admitted that Washington doesn’t have a strategy to deal with the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, excluding the possibility of imminent military strikes.
Obama linked the possibility of further attacks to the resumption of Congress in September and to Secretary of State John Kerry's recent tour of the region.
Reliable sources told al-Hayat that the basic dilemma now is how to apply the strategy without appearing to support the Assad regime. There are suggestions to also strike Assad's air defenses, but the Pentagon has confirmed that Syrian air defenses are either weak or broken down in the eastern parts of the country, where the attacks are expected to take place.
Obama has said that the United States doesn’t have to choose between Assad's regime and the Islamic State.
"We will resume our support to the moderate opposition because people in Syria need an alternative to both Assad and the Islamic State," Obama said.
"The Syrian president has lost his legitimacy and I can't see any scenario in which Assad can bring peace to a region inhabited by a majority of Sunni people, or can control the regions held by IS. The Syrian president has not shown yet any intention to share power with the Sunni Muslims or to reach an agreement with them."
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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