Syrian rebels do not support US interest: Dempsey

Washington: The US is against helping the Syrian rebels as their leaders can`t be relied on to back US interest, a top American general has said. "Syria today is not about choosing between two sides but rather about choosing one among many sides," Gen Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote to Congressman Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and our when the balance shifts in their favour. Today they are not." The United States could "destroy the Syrian Air Force" and negate the Assad regime`s ability to attack the opposition from the air, but that move would "escalate and potentially further commit the US to the conflict" without doing anything to solve its underlying causes, Dempsey said. "In a variety of ways, the use of military force can change the military balance, but it cannot resolve the underlying and historic ethnic, religious, and tribal issues that are fuelling this conflict," he wrote. "The use of US military force can change the military balance," Dempsey said. "But it cannot resolve the underlying and historic ethnic, religious and tribal issues that are fuelling this conflict," he argued. Outlining the steps he said would represent the best US strategy moving forward, Dempsey noted that the United States "could if asked to do so, significantly increase our effort? to develop a moderate opposition. "I believe we can assist in the humanitarian crisis on a far more significant scale," he wrote. PTI