The White House?s June 13th announcement that it would begin directly supplying arms to the opposition in Syria is a dramatic escalation of the U.S./NATO war against that country. Thousands of U.S. troops and intelligence personnel are training opposition forces and coordinating operations in Turkey and Jordan. Israel, the recipient of more than $3 billion annually in U.S. military aid, has carried out heavy bombing raids against Syria. The Pentagon has developed plans for a ?no-fly? zone over Syria, threatening a new U.S. air war.

The pretext for this escalation is the assertion, presented without any actual evidence, that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the conflict that has been raging for more than two years. Like their predecessors, President Obama and other top U.S. officials pretend to be concerned about ?democracy? and ?human rights? in Syria, but their closest allies in the campaign against Syria are police-state, absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Just as the false claim of ?weapons of mass destruction? was used as justification for the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the allegations that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian military is meant to mask the real motives of Washington and its allies. Their aim is to carry out ?regime change,? as part of the drive to create a ?new Middle East.?

The invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006, the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya, the now-escalating war in Syria and the growing threats against Iran are part of a coordinated regional effort by the United States, Britain and France to dominate this oil-rich and strategic region.

The U.S. government cuts basic services and has eliminated hundreds of thousands of public sector workers jobs in the last three years in the name of a discredited austerity which has destroyed the economy, but has unlimited billions available for wars of aggression and NSA [National Security Agency] surveillance of almost every American.

We join together to call for National Days of Action, June 28 - July 17, 2013, to demand:
? Stop the U.S./NATO/Israeli war and forms of intervention against Syria!
? Self-determination free from outside intervention for the Syrian people!
? Fund people?s needs, not the military!
? U.S. Out of the Middle East!

Join with:
Arab Americans for Syria, International Action Center, ANSWER Coalition, LA Trade Tech MECHA, Union del Barrio, Southern California Immigration Coalition, Union of Progressive Iranians & others.