UK ARMY CHIEF: Invading Syria Would Be The Only Way To Topple Assad

21 hours ago
By Michael Kelley | Business Insider
Source: Yahoo Finance

The outgoing head of the British Army said the West would have to invade Syria if it wanted topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad . 

  “You have to be able, as we did successfully in Libya, to hit ground targets," General David Richards told The Telegraph. "If you want to have the material effect that people seek [i.e. Assad's ouster] ... you would be going to war if that is what you want to do.”

Britain's most senior military officer explained that the West would need to destroy the Syrian government’s air defenses, tanks, and armored personnel carriers.

The general's comments came the same day his U.S. counterpart, U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, told a Senate committee that the Obama administration is considering the use of military force in Syria.

 The four star general, who is America's top military officer, said that he  provided President Barack Obama with options for the use of force  in Syria, including "kinetic strikes," and that the issue  "is under deliberation inside of our agencies of government."

"Senator, I am in favor of building a moderate opposition and supporting it," he said . " The question whether to support it with direct kinetic strikes ... is a decision for our elected officials, not for the senior military leader of the nation. "

Thus the West is at a crossroads when it comes to Syria. Britain has abandoned plans to arm Syrian rebels, noting that it won't make a significant impact on the outcome, and similar plans have stalled in the U.S.

“That is rightly a huge and important decision," UK Army chief  Richards said. "There are many arguments for doing so but there are many arguments for not doing so too.”

In March Dempsey implied military force would be a bad idea: "I don't think at this point I can see a military option that would create an understandable outcome. And until I do, it would be my advice to proceed cautiously."

U.S.  military options  range from one-off missile strikes on infrastructure linked to chemical weapons, to  funneling more weapons  to rebels, to  carving out no-fly zones , and even as far as putting 20,000 U.S. troops  in Jordan for a ground invasion.

UK revokes export licenses for Egypt's military

 1 hour ago
CASSANDRA VINOGRAD
AP
Source: Yahoo News

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Friday it has revoked five export licenses for equipment destined for Egypt's military and police in light of recent unrest in the country that has led to the deaths of civilians.

Egypt has witnessed street skirmishes and protests since the military deposed Mohammed Morsi as president. About 60 people have been killed in the clashes. On Friday, several thousand protesters demonstrated in cities across Egypt in the latest show of strength by supporters of Morsi, an Islamist with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Business Secretary Vince Cable's department said Friday that the decision was not related to one specific incident, but rather a buildup of events and Egyptian authorities' recent actions with regard to crowd control.

The five licenses covered components for armored personnel carriers, machine guns, and armored fighting infantry vehicles, along with communications equipment for tanks and licenses for vehicle antennas and radio equipment.

Cable said the government had not had reports of British equipment being used in Egypt's unrest, but took the decision to revoke the licenses upon advice from the Foreign Office. It was not immediately clear exactly who the licenses had been issued to — whether they were private British companies or other entities that export such material.

"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Egypt and the events which have led to the deaths of protesters," he said in a statement. "The longstanding U.K. position is clear: We will not grant export licenses where we judge there is a clear risk the goods might be used for internal repression."

The moves comes after a report from British lawmakers earlier this week urged the government to exercise more caution in approving applications for the export of arms to countries with authoritarian regimes.

The House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls published the report, showing that Britain has issued more than 3,000 arms export licenses for goods bound for countries where the U.K. has concerns about human rights — such as Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria.