U.S. commanders have laid out a range of possible options for military involvement in Syria, but they have made it clear that any action will likely be either with NATO backing or with a coalition of nations similar to the NATO-led overthrow of Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
The White House announced Thursday that intelligence officials have concluded that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has twice used sarin gas on its own people. But even though U.S. President Barack Obama has called that a “red line” for taking some kind of further action to assist the rebels, administration officials said Thursday that the intelligence wasn’t solid enough to warrant such a move.
On Thursday, U.S. officials said there has been no new movement of U.S. military assets to the region.
The military options could include establishing a no-fly zone over or a secured area within Syria, launching airstrikes by drones and fighter jets and sending in tens of thousands of ground forces to secure the regime’s chemical weapons caches.
Setting up a no-fly zone over Syria would present a greater challenge than it did in Libya in 2011 because Syria has a more sophisticated and robust air defense system. Crippling it would require jamming its radars and taking out missile sites, or possibly even using some type of cyber-attack to interfere with the system.
According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War, Syria’s largely Soviet-era air defense system includes as many as 300 mobile surface-to-air missile and defense systems, and more than 600 static missile launchers and sites.
Some U.S. senators have also pressed for the Obama administration to set up a narrow, so-called safe zone inside Syria, along its border with Turkey, where citizens can go to find safety.