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Turkey's Opposition Parties Reject Military Strike in Syria

The Turkish political opposition has doubts about whether it was the Syrian regime that used chemical weapons and concern over being pulled into a Middle Eastern quagmire.
Free Syrian Army fighters are seen on a Russian-made helicopter that belonged to the Syrian Army at the Minnig Military Airport, after it was seized by the rebels August 11, 2013. Syrian rebels captured the main military airport near the border with Turkey on August 6, consolidating their hold on a key supply route north of the city of Aleppo, opposition activists said. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX12H8L

While stressing that he has not yet decided on launching a military strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, US President Barack Obama said on Aug. 28, “[W]e do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on chemical weapons they are held accountable.” In the meantime, the British government argued that the legal reasoning for a strike on Syria “is justified on humanitarian grounds,” shoveling aside all questions concerning the legality of such an operation in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution.

Whether the strike is inevitable or not, the White House said on Tuesday, Aug. 27, that the mission of such an operation won’t be about ousting Assad.

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