Minneapolis, MN – There are widespread reports in the Western press saying that, on May 3, Israel launched another bombing raid on Syria. Reports say the attack was carried out from Lebanon.

The progressive pro-Hezbollah news outlet Al Manar states, “Israeli officials kept silent Saturday about reports by U.S. officials that their occupation forces had launched an airstrike from the Lebanese skies onto Syrian soil on Friday, in violation to 1701 UN resolution and international law.”

Al Manar also stated, “The Lebanese army released a statement on Friday saying Israeli warplanes had flown over Lebanese airspace for hours. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman denounced the flights and accused the entity of breaking international law.”

These reported developments occurred within the context of the Obama administration’s debate about whether to send arms directly to Syria’s rebels. This week both President Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that they were considering arming the rebels due to allegations that the Assad government had used chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has condemned the Western-backed sectarian rebels for their use of chemical munitions.

Minneapolis Anti-War Committee activist Meredith Aby says, “In reality the Obama administration is only having a public debate about overtly arming the Syrian rebels. I say ‘overtly arming’ because, despite the Obama administration’s rhetoric regarding Syria, the U.S. has been intervening in Syria’s conflict for awhile, by having the CIA coordinate arms into Syria and U.S. military forces train Syrian rebels in Jordan.”

Aby continued, “The mass media’s discussion concerning U.S. action in Syria is war propaganda. It’s promoting an imperialist view that the U.S. has the ‘responsibility to protect’ and an assumption that U.S. military aid or action will improve the situation. In actuality, there is no reason to not assume that the U.S. wouldn’t end up occupying Syria indefinitely in order to prop up a puppet Obama would install as a Washington-friendly leader. While the reports of bloodshed are hard to hear about, in reality the decision about what government to have in Syria belongs to Syria, and U.S. involvement would only expand the conflict.”

A recent poll from the Pew Research Center says that 62% of Americans oppose any intervention in Syria. Aby concluded, “Now more than ever it is important for people to call their members of Congress and the president to say no to expanded intervention in the Syrian conflict. Public opinion is on our side. We need to show it.”

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