Secretary of State John Kerry has been pushing for the U.S. military to be more aggressive in supporting the country’s rebel forces. However the Pentagon does not agree.
Mr. Kerry and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power have advocated options that range from an American military intervention to weaken the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to using U.S. special operations forces to train and equip a large number of rebel fighters. However, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have pushed back against military intervention, said senior officials.
They argue that the risk of being dragged into what both men see as an open-ended foreign entanglement.
The disagreement between the State Department and the Pentagon, the officials from both sides said, is the latest chapter in an agonizing three-year administration debate over Syria. Pentagon officials say they are trying to prevent the U.S. from getting sucked into another messy Mideast conflict.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan declined to comment on any internal administration deliberations.
