U

S President Barack Obama is putting his country'€™s credibility on the line by calling for a military strike on Syria.

Not even a Congressional decision to approve or reject the plan will provide Obama with a face saving exit plan. A strike against another country amounts to a declaration of war, even if Obama has insisted that it will be limited.

The Congress will likely block the plan when it next convenes on Sept. 9, especially if we take into account the growing domestic opposition to committing America to another ugly war.

Such a decision would destroy the US'€™ reputation as the only superpower. Obama would suffer a much bigger embarrassment than what UK Prime Minister David Cameron sustained when his own plan to join the US coalition of the willing was rejected in a British parliamentary vote.

Congressional approval on the other hand would unleash even more uncertainty into a region already wreaked with violence. Other key regional players, particularly Israel, Turkey and Iran, and big powers like Russia and China, would be dragged into the conflict. Where this would lead is an open question, but a third world war cannot be ruled out.

While it is almost certain that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, which prompted voices in the US to call for military action, it remains unclear who used these weapons. Obama is adamant that the Assad regime is to blame, but Russia has challenged the US to produce evidence.

How credible is this US intelligence? This is a big question. We still remember the US went to war in Iraq in 2003 on the basis of seriously flawed intelligence about the presence of weapons of mass destruction.

The planned US attack, however, counts as the first and only serious attempt by an outside power to try to stop the bloody civil war in Syria. The rest of the world has watched in horror as the Syrian tragedy has unfolded, beginning with Assad'€™s crackdown against peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy in March 2011.

With the UN Security Council paralyzed by big power politics, the US'€™ intervention may be the last hope for many Syrians.

Ultimately, the US, Russia, China and key regional players like Israel, Turkey and Iran, will have to take the responsibility to try to end the civil war in Syria. The casualty level to date '€” over 110,000 deaths, many more injured and millions displaced '€” is too mind boggling for the world to just keep quiet and do nothing.