Military Objectives Explored During Senate Hearing on Syria

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The Washington Post reports that Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who appeared before a Senate Armed Services committee hearing yesterday, struggled at times to lay out a military strike on Syria that would be tough enough to be worthwhile, but limited enough to guarantee that the United States would not get dragged into another open-ended military commitment in the Middle East.

“Our military objectives in Syria would be to hold the Assad regime accountable, degrade its ability to carry out these kinds of attacks and deter it from further use of chemical weapons,” Hagel said in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The packed hearing was the first of what is expected to be several intensive debates on the Hill this week, following President Obama’s decision to seek congressional support for any military strike against the Syrian regime.