A top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, recommends bolstering Lebanese and Iraqi forces. (File photo: Reuters)
Reuters, Washington
The top U.S. military officer said on Wednesday he has recommended
bolstering Lebanese forces grappling with the fallout from Syria’s civil
war by sending in military trainers and accelerating arms sales.
General Martin Dempsey also said he had recommended helping Iraq better deal with the re-emergence of al-Qaeda.
“We’ve made a recommendation that as we look at the challenges faced by
the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Iraqi security forces with a re-emerging
al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Jordanians, that we would work with them to
help them build additional capability,” Dempsey told reporters at the
Pentagon.
A spokesman said Dempsey’s recommendations were made “in recent weeks”
during internal discussions with the U.S. military’s Central Command, as
it deliberates how to respond to the growing, regional unrest.
After two years of fighting that has killed more than 100,000 people,
Syria’s war is dragging its neighbors into a deadly proxy confrontation
between Shiite Iran supporting President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Arab
Gulf nations backing the Syrian rebels.
Comments