Corker Cautious About Syrian Intervention

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) remains hesitant that the revolution in Syria is a true democratic movement. While supporting humanitarian aid, Corker is against direct assistance to the Syrian opposition – as he does not think they prove a better alternative to President Bashar al-Assad. “I don’t think we know enough about the opposition groups that have become involved or what might happen should Bashar be gone,” said Corker. In the briefings Corker has attended he has not gotten the sense that democracy is wanted in Syria and “basically you’ve got an Alawite minority that has dominion over, if you will, a Sunni population mostly. And what the Sunnis are fighting for is dominion over the minority population.” On a similar note, President Barack Obama said that military intervention in Syria would be premature, and could lead to a possible civil war.

Conversely, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) became the fourth Senator calling for military intervention in Syria. ”I’m at the point right now that I think we should handle it like we did with Libya: Get that coalition and go in and give the opposition a chance to regroup,” but after making the statement follow up that he was seeking the appropriate briefing to provide what the “limitations are and how this is different from Libya.”

Writing for Ahram Online, Abderrahim Sabir, stressed that arming the Syrian opposition was not the correct solution, but the international community needs to protect human rights in Syria. Meanwhile,  Jonathan Tepperman argued  that if intervention is to take place it must be a zero sum game, as “Partial measures may seem attractive, but they risk turning a small local conflict into a far messier regional war.”