Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, less than a week after
approving U.S. military aid to Sunni rebels, has backed away from proposals
meant to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Obama, in his first interview on the subject, acknowledged that he was
skeptical over measures to restrain Assad’s military amid its offensive
against the rebels.

On June 13, the White House announced that the United States would
supply weapons to Syrian rebels. Since then, neither Obama nor his aides
disclosed details of the proposed aid.

“Now that President Obama has decided to champion the opposition
militarily, he must set out clear goals and explain his vision for Syria’s
future,” said Joshua Landis, a leading U.S. analyst on Syria and regarded as
close to the State Department.

In an interview with PBS television on June 17, the president also dismissed the prospect of a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors, urged by Arab states and members of Congress.

“If you set up a no-fly zone, that you may not be actually solving the problem,” Obama said.

Obama also played down the Syrian Air Force and its daily strikes on rebel strongholds. The president said Syrian fighter-jets and helicopters provided by Russia did not represent a significant threat to the rebels, and that most of the nearly 100,000 casualties came from Assad’s ground operations.

“The fact of the matter is for example, 90 percent of the deaths that
have taken place haven’t been because of air strikes by the Syrian Air
Force,” Obama said. “Syrian Air Force isn’t particularly good. They can’t
aim very well.”

Obama’s assertions disputed those by rebels and NATO analysts that the Syrian Air Force has significantly improved skills in 2013. The analysts cited Russian training and support operations that enhanced air strikes on such rebel strongholds as Aleppo, Homs and Qusayr.

“There is growing bipartisan support in the Congress for more robust
actions to create the military conditions in Syria for a favorable
negotiated resolution to the conflict,” three senior U.S. senators,
including Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, said in
a letter to Obama on June 18. “It is not too late for the United States to
help achieve that critical goal, but we must act now.”

In the interview, Obama also dismissed a plan to form a “humanitarian

corridor” that would allow civilians to escape Assad attacks. The president
said such a corridor would require U.S. or NATO bombing missions in Syria.

“Or if you set up a humanitarian corridor, are you in fact committed not
only to stopping aircraft from going that corridor, but also missiles?”
Obama asked. “And if so, does that mean that you then have to take out the
armaments in Damascus and are you prepared then to bomb Damascus? And what
happens if there’s civilian casualties?”

The president, who suggested that Washington’s main role would be to
protect Syria’s neighbors, also ruled out U.S. operations to secure or
destroy Syria’s huge chemical weapons arsenal. The White House, after months
of examination, acknowledged that the Assad regime used sarin and other CW
agents in attacks on rebels.

“And have we mapped all of the chemical weapons facilities inside of
Syria to make sure that we don’t drop a bomb on a chemical weapons facility
that ends up then dispersing chemical weapons and killing civilians, which
is exactly what we’re trying to prevent?” Obama asked. “Any notion that
somehow we’re just a few, you know, anti-helicopter or tank weapons away
from tipping in that direction I think is not being realistic analyzing the
situation.”

  Aleppo, Bashar Assad, Four days after pledging aid for Syrian rebels, Homs, Obama backs down, Qusayr, Sen. Carl Levin, Sunni rebels