Sources: US would hit back against Assad attack

In this Wednesday, July 16, 2014 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria’s President Bashar Assad waves to his supporters upon his arrival to the presidential palace to take the oath of office for his third seven-year term in Damascus, Syria. The Syrian government has said it welcomes U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria. But it had been gambling that Washington would partner with it against the extremists, hoping for a dramatic reversal in the U.S. policy calling for Assad’s removal. AP

WASHINGTON— The United States would retaliate against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air defenses if he were to go after American planes launching airstrikes in his country, senior Obama administration officials said Monday.

Officials said the U.S. has a good sense of where the Syrian air defenses, along with their command and control centers, are located. If Assad were to use those capabilities to threaten U.S. forces, it would put his air defenses at risk, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administration’s thinking on the matter.

President Barack Obama has authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria as part of a broad campaign to root out the Islamic State militant group, though no strikes have yet been launched in the country.

The mere discussion of launching strikes in Syria has highlighted the complexity of taking U.S. military action inside a country locked in an intractable civil war. The campaign against the Islamic State, for example, risks putting the U.S. on the same side as Assad, whose government forces have also been trying to oust the militant group.

However, the U.S. has ruled out the prospect of coordinating with Assad as it launches airstrikes. And officials have acknowledged concerns about Assad’s own formidable air defenses.

When asked Monday about the prospect of striking Assad’s regime if his forces were to target Americans, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there will be “rules of engagement that are related to any military orders the president directs.”

“It won’t surprise you to know that there are contingencies related to self-defense when it comes to these sorts of rules of engagement,” he said.