DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: U.S. Drones Flying Over Syria To Monitor Crackdown - Report
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 19, 2012: The United States is flying unmanned reconnaissance planes over Syria to monitor the regime's escalating crackdown on dissent, U.S. defense officials told NBC television on Saturday.
The drones are being used to gather evidence on the Syrian security forces' violence against pro-democracy protesters that can be used to "make a case for a widespread international response," the U.S.-based broadcaster quoted the unnamed officials as saying.
The Pentagon officials stressed that the U.S. is not preparing the ground for a military intervention, but is simply collecting evidence of President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protesters.
There was no official comment from Syria on the report.
The West has ruled out a Libya-style military intervention in Syria to stop 11 months of bloodshed.
Meanwhile, there have been disagreements regarding what action must be taken against Syria. Turkey refuses to set up buffer zones for civilians on its border with Syria, and demands that the transfer of equipment and medicine be done via the sea and not through its territory.
