Senior Obama administration figures have pushed US
senators to support military strikes against Syria, arguing that the
Assad regime has crossed the “world’s red line” by using chemical
weapons.
UN warning
The lobbying effort continued as UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon warned that any “punitive” action could be illegal without the approval of UN security council or a justifiable case for self-defence.
In the US administration’s most
high-profile push for Congressional support for “limited” military
action, secretary of state John Kerry urged a key Senate committee to
send an “unmistakable message” that when the US says “never again” on
chemical weapons, it must mean “never means never.”
Mr Kerry pressed for action against Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad during an appearance before the Senate foreign
relations committee whose support may help sway the US Congress to back
the president.
US secretary of defence Chuck
Hagel and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Martin
Dempsey, accompanied Mr Kerry in making the case for action.
Most
senators appeared to support action, hours after Mr Obama secured the
key backing of two top-ranking Republicans in the House of
Representatives following the president’s decision to seek Congressional
support to act against Assad.
The Speaker of the
House of Representatives John Boehner and the majority leader in the
House Eric Cantor said they would support Mr Obama.
UN warning
The lobbying effort continued as UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon warned that any “punitive” action could be illegal without the approval of UN security council or a justifiable case for self-defence.
Mr
Kerry said the debate on Syria was not about Mr Obama’s “red line” on
chemical weapons, a reference to the president’s warning against Assad
last year. “This debate is about the world’s red line. It’s about
humanity’s red line,” he said. America cannot be “spectators to
slaughter,” he said.
Assad’s use of chemical
weapons was “beyond any reasonable doubt,” he said. Recalling the vote
for war against Iraq in 2003, Mr Kerry said that he and Mr Hagel, as
former senators, were “especially sensitive” to asking Congress to “take
a vote on faulty intelligence.”
As the Obama
administration pushes for political support, an ABC News poll found
almost six in 10 Americans oppose the US hitting Syria alone.
