Syrian official warns US: No unilateral airstrikes

Syria's foreign minister warned the US today not to conduct airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State group without Damascus' consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression.
Walid al-Moallem's words appeared timed to try to pre-empt any US military action in Syria. President Barack Obama has resisted ordering US military action in Syria for three years, even after a deadly chemical weapons attack a year ago near Damascus he blamed on President Bashar Assad's government. But now, Obama faces pressure from his own military leaders to go after the Islamic State group inside Syria.
Obama remains wary, however, of getting dragged into the bloody and complex Syrian civil war that the United Nations says has killed more than 190,000 people.

Al-Moallem's remarks at a news conference in Damascus also marked the first public comments by a senior Assad official on the threat posed by the Islamic State group, which has captured large swaths of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
"Syria is ready to cooperate and coordinate on the regional and international level in the war on terror," al-Moallem said. "But any effort to combat terrorism should be coordinated with the Syrian government."
Al-Moallem appeared keenly aware of how much has changed in the past year as he spoke Monday. Since then, global disapproval has shifted away from Assad and toward the Islamic extremists who are fighting him and spreading destruction across Syria and Iraq.

The foreign minister said the Syrian government repeatedly has warned of the threat of terrorism and the need to cut off resources and funding but "no one listened to us." Syria's government has long described the rebels fighting to topple Assad as "terrorists" in a foreign conspiracy.
There is not much Syria can do, however, if the US does decide to strike. US officials revealed last week that US forces had tried to rescue US journalist James Foley in a failed operation in Raqqa in July.
"Had there been prior coordination that operation would not have failed," al-Moallem said.