Former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned against Washington\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s military intervention in the Syria, describing the move a “mistake.”\n<\/p>\n
Gates said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” on Sunday that US military involvement in Syria\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s crisis would be a “mistake” and that the outcome would be unpredictable and messy, AFP reported.\n<\/p>\n
“I thought it was a mistake in Libya, and I think it is a mistake in Syria, even if we had intervened more significantly in Syria a year ago or six months ago. We overestimate our ability to determine outcomes,” said Gates, who was US Defense Secretary in 2011 when the United States joined a NATO-led air operation in Libya to topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi\n<\/p>\n
His comments come as reports say American senators are pushing the Obama administration to intervene in Syria in favor of the militants fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad by stepping up military support for them.\n<\/p>\n
The US is already supplying the militants operating in Syria with intelligence and funds while its regional allies are providing them with weapons.\n<\/p>\n
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian troops and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.\n<\/p>\n
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 militants are foreign nationals.\n<\/p>\n
Damascus says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.\n<\/p>\n
HM\/PR
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