The Borneo Post

Nato chief defends decision to stay out of Syrian war

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BERLIN: Nato chief Jens Stoltenber­g Sunday defended the alliance’s decision to refrain from stepping into the war in Syria, saying doing so would only make matters worse.

All 28 Nato members belong to the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group but they are not directly involved in the Syrian conflict.

“We are experienci­ng in Syria a horrible human catastroph­e. Sometimes it is right to deploy militarily – such as in Afghanista­n. But sometimes the costs of a military operation is higher than its benefit. Looking at Syria, Nato partners came to the conclusion that a military deployment would only make a terrible situation worse,” Stoltenber­g told Bild am Sonntag.

“We would risk turning it into a bigger regional conf lict. Or more innocent people could die. A military deployment is not always the solution,” he warned.

The West has come under fire from some quarters over its failure to halt the carnage in Syria. Trapped civilians and rebels in besieged Aleppo were on Sunday waiting desperatel­y for evacuation­s to resume, as the UN Security Council was due to vote on sending observers to the flashpoint city.

France is pushing for the monitors, arguing that an internatio­nal presence would prevent Aleppo from turning into another Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian men and boys were massacred in 1995 when the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces during the Balkan wars. — AFP

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