Images of the Syrian crisis

Forces loyal to Bashra AL Assad near Qusayr. The US is against helping the Syrian rebels as their leaders can't be relied on to back US interest, a top American general has said. "Syria today is not about choosing between two sides but rather about choosing one among many sides," Gen Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote to Congressman Eliot Engel, the top emocrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and our when the balance shifts in their favour. Today they are not."