Only a 'CNN Event' Could Draw U.S. Into Syria Conflict

With a tenuous peace settling over Syria, a former White House official says it would take powerful video images blasted on cable news of regime-orchestrated brutality to draw in the U.S. military.

Barry Pavel, a former National Security Council and Pentagon official, tells DOTMIL via Twitter the U.S. "will act only if [a] 'CNN event'" occurs.

[See pictures of the violence in Syria]

The senior Atlantic Council analyst's succinct assessment comes just days after a Syrian opposition official told DOTMIL the Obama administration has made clear in private talks it will not get involved--not even to directly arm Syrian rebel forces.

"We're not getting one ounce of an impression that that's going to be the case," says Muna Jondy, a Syrian opposition official, when asked if the White House is preparing to get involved. "There just isn't an appetite to get involved right now. And I don't think that's going to be changing."

The White House says its focus is on working with Bashir al-Assad's regime and rebel leaders to make a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect Thursday hold. The White House is trying to cut off Assad's financial resources while helping get humanitarian aid into the nation, a spokesman says.

The administration continues to say it feels U.S. military intervention--even arming the rebels--would make worse a civil conflict that the U.N. says has left over 9,000 people dead.

Reports from the region Friday stated government forces were still fighting rebel troops and even firing at protesters.

• Read Senators: U.S. Forces at Risk Due to Syrian Chemical Weapons
• Read Source: U.S. Would Funnel Syrian Aid Through Regional Allies
• Check out U.S. News Weekly: An insider's guide to politics and policy 

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