Dozens of dissenting US diplomats call for military strikes against Syria’s President Assad

US attacks against the Assad government would represent a major shift in Obama’s policy of not taking sides in the Syrian civil war

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A combination picture shows smoke and flame rising after what fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) said were US-led air strikes on Thursday on the mills of Manbij where Islamic State militants are positioned in Aleppo. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:03pm, 17 Jun 2016Updated: 12:03pm, 17 Jun 2016

More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of U.S. policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad’s government to stop its persistent violations of a ceasefire in the country’s civil war.

The “dissent channel cable” was signed by 51 mid- to high-level State Department officers involved with advising on Syria policy. It was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The cable calls for “targeted military strikes” against the Syrian government in light of the near-collapse of the ceasefire brokered earlier this year, the Journal reported, citing copies of the cable it had seen.

US Marines prepare to load ordnance onto an AV-8B Harrier II on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in preparation for missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the military campaign in Iraq and Syria, on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Military strikes against the Assad government would represent a major change in the Obama administration’s longstanding policy of not taking sides in the Syrian civil war.

One US official, who did not sign the cable but has read it, said the White House remained opposed to deeper American military involvement in the Syrian conflict.

The official said the cable was unlikely to alter that, or shift Obama’s focus from the battle against the persistent and spreading threat posed by the Islamic State militant group.