US must get militarily involved in Syria: American senators

Insurgents in Syria stand around an anti-aircraft machinegun mounted on a truck in the northern city of Aleppo, August 4, 2012

Source: Press TV

A number of top American senators have called for direct US military intervention in Syria and arming the insurgents fighting the Syrian government.

The American senators, John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, said that the US should use its air force to protect areas controlled by the insurgents in Syria.

"This would not require any US troops on the ground but could involve limited use of our airpower and other unique US assets," said the senators in an article in the US daily, the Washington Post, on Sunday without clarifying what they meant by the “assets.”

They also said that the insurgents in Syria should be supplied "directly and openly" with weapons, intelligence and training.

The foreign-backed insurgents in Syria comprise of extremist elements, including al-Qaeda militants. A German intelligence report estimates that around 90 percent of the terror attacks in Syria are carried out by al-Qaeda affiliates.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and insurgents’ are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence, while the opposition accuses the security forces of killing protesters.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed insurgents are foreign nationals.