US diplomats’ revolt could spell tougher stand against Assad and Russia by next president

A “dissent memo” signed by dozens of State Department officials urging US airstrikes on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces is a message to their former boss Hillary Clinton – and a warning to Assad and the Russians – that career diplomats want US President Barack Obama’s successor to take a harder line against the dictator.

The memo calls for limited US airstrikes on Assad’s forces in response to the collapse of a tentative ceasefire in Syria’s five-year civil war, according to a person who has been briefed on the letter. Assad said this month that he would take back “every inch” of Syria from opposition forces. The 51 officials who signed the document argue that US military action would force Assad and his ally, Russia, to make concessions in negotiations to resolve the conflict.

Clinton, the former secretary of state who is now the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president, already has signalled a preference for a more aggressive course in Syria than Obama, including enforcement of a no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has said he would order more aggressive military action against Islamic State but not Assad.

Former diplomats and Syria policy analysts said the memo is unlikely to force a change in Obama’s strategy toward Assad. A White House spokeswoman, Jen Friedman, on Friday acknowledged dissenting views on Obama’s Syria policy and said the administration is “always open to new or different ideas”. She did not know if Obama had seen the dissent memo.

“The president has always been clear that he does not see a military solution to the crisis in Syria and that remains the case,” she told reporters aboard Air Force One.