US military intervention in Syria can lead to WWIII: Analyst

Any US military intervention in Syria will merely exacerbate the crisis in the Arab country and put the globe on the brink of another world war, a political analyst tells Press TV.

“US military involvement [in Syria] obviously would not resolve the crisis. It would just make it worse as always happens when the US military gets involved in parts of the world where it has no business being,” said Kevin Barrett in a Saturday interview with Press TV.

“This is a dangerous move because we’re really on the edge of a potential World War III in Syria. The region is being destabilized more and more at every moment,” he pointed out.

On Friday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the Pentagon was positioning military forces as part of “contingency options” provided to US President Barack Obama regarding Syria.

Hagel’s remarks have been interpreted as a tacit suggestion that the US may be preparing for a military attack on Syria.

Also on Friday, some American military officials said that Washington was considering military options against Syria over the allegations of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government.

Barrett, noted that pressures by the hard-line Israeli lobby are also behind such hawkish US posturing.

On Wednesday, the militants operating in Syria claimed that around 1,300 people were killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.

But the Syrian Army strongly rejected any role in the alleged chemical attack, saying the accusations were fabricated to distract a visiting team of the UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants’ losses.

The Syrian government later announced that the chemical attack had actually been carried out by the militants themselves as a false flag operation.

The announcement by Syria echoed earlier declarations by Russia, which said it had “new evidence” that the chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs were of a “provocative nature.” Iran has also said, “There are documents [showing] terrorist groups are behind this attack.”

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.

A very large number of the militants operating inside Syria are reportedly foreign nationals.

According to reports, the West and its regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – are supporting the militants inside Syria.