Dozens Of US Diplomats Call For Syria Action

More than 50 diplomats have signed an internal memo calling on the US government to take military action against the Assad regime in Syria.

The cable was sent via an internal network called the "dissent channel" which allows State Department employees to flag up concerns.

Signed by mostly mid-level diplomats working in the region or in Washington, the memo calls for military action to pressure Syria's government into accepting a ceasefire and engaging in peace talks.

It says the only way to deal with the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria - where nearly half the population has been forced to flee their homes - is by using air attacks or other "stand-off" weapons fired from a distance.

It does not advocate troops on the ground.

The position is at odds with current US policy and is at a time when the regime of Bashar al Assad is being supported on the ground by Russian military forces.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he has not seen the memo but "respects the process very much".

He added that it is "an important statement" and will discuss it when he returns to Washington DC from Denmark, where he has been meeting the Danish Prime Minister.

The conflict in Syria has been ongoing since 2011 and is thought to have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and prompted an exodus that heavily contributed to the migration crisis affecting Europe.

US President Barack Obama has been very reluctant to take direct action - only once threatening and then rolling back from airstrikes over Syria's use of chemical weapons.

The US is engaged in an air war over Syria but its airstrikes and those of its allies are directed solely at militants operating in the country and neighbouring Iraq.

Syrian forces meanwhile, including their Russian allies, have been carrying out airstrikes on targets they say are terrorists and campaigners say are civilians.

Republican and some Democratic politicians have called for military action against the Assad regime on several occasions.

The document has been classified since its release but was quoted from by both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

The Journal reported that the document said: "Failure to stem Assad's flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as (IS), even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield."