Poland will not join strikes on Syria

PM Tusk talks to reporters in parliament, Wednesday: photo - PAP/Jakub Kamiński

“Poland will not participate in any type of military intervention in Syria,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday morning.

"I spoke with [Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw] Sikorski and asked him to tell our partners that Poland will not participation in any type of intervention in Syria,” Tusk said.

Minister Sikorski is in Brussels today for a meeting of the NATO Atlantic Council, which will discuss the issue.

Though he understands the reasons and motivation for the US, UK, France, Turkey and others who are in favour of military intervention following the alleged chemical attacks by the Syrian regime near Damascus last week, Prime Minister Tusk does “not share the faith and enthusiasm of those who believe that such an intervention will have the desired effect”.

Poland has been a member of NATO since 1997 and has now become one of the first in the Atlantic alliance to come out against military intervention in Syria.

“We have experience in this part of the world, which shows that military intervention, even from the most obvious and noble motives, rarely produces the desired effect,” Tusk added, referring to Poland’s experience of sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The NBC broadcaster is reporting that US air strikes against military targets could begin as early as this Thursday, and will be targeted at the Syria regime’s military infrastructure.

The whole operation could take as little as three days, NBC reports. (pg)

Source: PAP/IAR