NATO chief: ‘No intention’ of intervention in Syria

 “The situation
in Syria is, indeed, a negative one. We are continuing to find ways to put pressure on the regime, to abide
by the [U.N.-Arab League Envoy Kofi] Annan plan, to implement it.

Daalder’s statement echoed NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen
during the NATO Summit in Chicago, as he said on Sunday that NATO has “no
intention” of taking military action in Syria, according to AFP.

{mosads}“We strongly condemn the behavior of the Syrian security
forces and their crackdowns on the Syrian population and we urge the Syrian
leadership to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian
people,” Rasmussen said.

“But again NATO has no intention to intervene in
Syria,” he said.

The declaration that NATO is not going to take military
action against Syria comes as most — including the White House — are
admitting that the Annan six-point peace plan is not stopping violence in Syria.

The Obama administration continues to press for a diplomatic
solution that leads to a political transition in Syria, but so far President
Bashar al-Assad has shown no intention of going along with those plans.

At the G-8 summit at Camp David, the world leaders said in a
joint declaration that Syria “must immediately and fully adhere to commitments
to implement the six-point plan” from Annan, though they did not commit to
further action.

The leaders said they look forward to seeing Annan’s
evaluation of the Syrian situation, as he is slated to deliver a report to the
U.N. Security Council.

But on Capitol Hill, a group of lawmakers continues to press
for more U.S. and international action in Syria, amid recent reports that the
Obama administration is helping coordinate arms deliveries to the rebels.

At the Sunday evening press briefing with Daalder, Obama’s
deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, emphasized that the leaders at the
G-8 “made a point of elevating the need for a political transition to get
under way within Syria.”

“It’s our belief that you’re not simply going to stop the
violence within Syria by putting monitors into the country — as important as
that is — to bring the violence down,” Rhodes said. “There needs to be a
credible political transition process that gets under way.”