US Spy Chief: Syria Apocalyptic Disaster

Local Editor

The top US intelligence chief said on Tuesday the war in Syria had created an "apocalyptic disaster" and said he was convinced that documents alleging torture and murder in the conflict were authentic.

"They're terrible. And when you consider the humanitarian disaster in addition to the 2.5 million refugees, the 6.5 million or 7 million that are internally displaced, the 134,000 plus people that have been killed, it is an apocalyptic disaster," he said.

McCain, an Arizona Republican, asked if it was Clapper's "professional opinion" that the documents are authentic.

"I believe they are. I have no reason to doubt that, and it would be difficult to suggest, you know, that something of that magnitude could have been fabricated," Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Clapper said his expectations for negotiations in Geneva are "pretty modest" and called prospects for a long-term political solution to the three-year-long civil war "problematic."

He said his expects a "sort of prolonged stalemate".

Clapper and other US officials point to Syria as a source of regional instability and also a danger for European countries and the United States.
"The strength of the Syrian insurgency is now estimated at anywhere from 75,000 fighters to 115,000, organized into more than 1,500 groups of widely varying political leanings," Clapper said.
"Somewhere in the neighborhood of between 20,000 and maybe up to a top range of 26,000 we regard as extremists," he said. "And they are disproportionately influential because they are among the most effective fighters on the battlefield."

Among 7,500 foreign fighters from 50 countries, Clapper said, are al-Qaeda veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan who aspire to attack Europe, as well as the United States.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team