Ottawa, Aug 30 (IANS) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his country has no plans for a military mission in Syria although the government supports its allies and has been convinced of the need for “forceful action” against the West Asian nation.
“At the present time, the government of Canada has no plans, we have no plans of our own, to have a Canadian military mission,” Xinhua quoted Harper as saying Thursday.
After speaking to the leaders of Britain, France and the US, the prime minister is convinced that the risk of chemical weapons being more widely used in Syria is too great.
“This is a very big risk and…we do support our allies who are contemplating forceful action to deal with this,” he added.
However, Harper noted that the conflict in Syria is “overwhelmingly sectarian in nature and does not have, at the present, any ideal or obvious outcomes”.
On Tuesday, Harper shared US President Barack Obama’s view that the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria was carried out by the government.
During their telephone conversation, Harper and Obama agreed that significant use of chemical weapons merits a firm response from the international community in an effective and timely manner.
On Wednesday, Canada’s foreign affairs minister John Baird indicated that Canada wouldn’t be able to contribute to the military plans appeared in media reports.
“There are discussions going on as to the exact nature of what our response could be. I think some have speculated in the media and elsewhere that it could involve cruise missiles or armed drones, neither of which Canada has,” he said.
