Barack Obama: US ready together with Russia to persuade Syrian conflict sides to negotiate

US President Barack Obama has not yet made a decision on military action against Syria. He made this statement in an interview on PBS TV public broadcasting service on Wednesday. “I’ve not made a decision. I have gotten options from our military, had extensive discussions with my national security team,” he said. According to the US president, a possible military action could serve as a warning signal to Assad about the inadmissibility of the further use of chemical weapons. “I think it’s important that if, in fact, we make a choice to have repercussions for the use of chemical weapons, then the Assad regime, which is involved in a civil war, trying to protect itself, will have received a pretty strong signal, that in fact, it better not do it again,” Obama stressed. Obama acknowledged that “that doesn’t solve all the problems inside of Syria, and, you know, it doesn’t, obviously end the death of innocent civilians inside of Syria. And we hope that, in fact, ultimately, a political transition can take place inside of Syria, and we’re prepared to work with anybody - the Russians and others - to try to bring the parties together to resolve the conflict, but we want the Assad regime to understand that by using chemical weapons on a large scale against your own people - against women, against infants, against children, that you are not only breaking international norms and standards of decency, but you’re also creating a situation where US national interests are affected, and that needs to stop.” He stressed that the United States does not want the Syrian conflict to last forever. He said the United States has come to the conclusion that the Syrian government is behind the recent chemical attack near Damascus in which civilians were killed. According o the US president, data available to the United States suggest that the opposition forces do not possess chemical weapons and their means of delivery.