British 'no' hits US plans for coalition against Syria Guy Jackson, AFP, London, 30 August 2013 British lawmakers have rejected their government's call for military strikes against the Syrian regime, leaving the US to look elsewhere for international partners while reserving the right to act alone against Damascus. The British House of Commons voted Thursday to defy Prime Minister David Cameron's bid to win support for military intervention over the Syrian regime's suspected use of chemical weapons against its own people. Speaking in Manila Friday, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel insisted Washington is still seeking an "international coalition" to take action against the Syrian regime. "Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together," Hagel told a news conference. Hagel said Washington respected the British parliament's stance rejecting participation in any punitive strikes against Syria's regime. "We are continuing to consult with the British as with all of our allies. That consultation includes ways forward together on a response to this chemical weapons attack in Syria," he added. The British parliament's decision also came after the failure of an improbable eleventh-hour effort by British diplomats to win UN backing for action against Bashar al-Assad's regime at a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council. "It is clear to me that the British parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that and the government will act accordingly," Cameron said. His government was defeated by just 13 votes in the House of Commons in its bid for a "strong humanitarian response" to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. That, combined with deadlock at the United Nations, appeared to effectively sound the death knell for the idea of a broad-based Western military coalition, although other American allies might still participate. Caitlin Hayden, a National Security Council spokeswoman said that President Barack Obama's decision-making "will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States. From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jt1GD7j5Mqkv7fuI1U0xF59Px thg?docId=CNG.d3bfe28c1fb349bdba7a7994adcf6f59.141 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
<<image001.png>>
