"Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria," he said, explaining that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were "so determined to take down Assad," that in a sense they started a "proxy Sunni-Shia war" by pouring "hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons" towards anyone who would fight against Assad. "And we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them," said Biden, thus disassociating the US from unleashing the civil war in Syria.
Biden, who is known for his occasional verbal gaffes, angered US allies when he suggested in a speech at Harvard University on Thursday that Turkey, Qatar and the UAE had extended "billions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons" to Sunni fighters trying to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president.
Syria warned Turkey on Friday against any military intervention on its territories, saying it would consider it an act of "aggression," a day after the Turkish military was given authorization to conduct cross-border incursions against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operating in the Arab country.
For the past three years, Official Washington has viewed the Syrian civil war as "white-hatted" rebels against "black-hatted" President Assad, but finally some of the "gray-hatted" reality is breaking through, though perhaps too late, Robert Parry reports.
Another humanitarian catastrophe may be just hours away at Kobani. The latter is the Syrian Kurdish town on the border with Turkey that is now surrounded by ISIS tanks and is being pounded day after day by ISIS heavy artillery.
Kurdish fighters, backed by US-led air strikes, are trying to hold back an advance by Islamic State militants.
Female suicide bomber attacks ISIL position east of Kobane, as fighting rages for control of the strategic town.
In its campaign across northern Syria and Iraq, the jihadist group Islamic State has been using ammunition from the United States and other countries that have been supporting the regional security forces fighting the group, according to new field data gathered by a private arms-tracking organization.
Sweden premature to recognize Palestine: U.S.
Washington will not be the one to decide Sweden's policies, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström said after the US criticized Stockholm's plans to officially recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.