Syria's President Bashar al-Assad delivers a speech at al-Shaab presidential palace in Damascus
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad delivers a speech after being sworn in for a new seven-year term, at al-Shaab presidential palace in Damascus July 16, 2014, Reuters

The anti ISIS airstrikes in Syria, announced by U.S. President Barack Obama, received a jolt when the UK and Germany decided to stay away from it. However, they offered cooperation in other areas to eliminate the "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria.

The foreign ministers of Germany and the UK met in Berlin on Thursday and issued a statement citing their stand on the issue. British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond made it clear that Britain is not going to be the part of any airstrike in Syria, reported The Guardian.

Though he was contradicted later by the spokesman of British Prime Minister, the stand of the British Parliament that barred UK from any airstrike in Syria still stands and makes what Hammond stated as valid.

Germany sees arming Kurdish forces a better way to fight IS extremists than doing aerial bombing. Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected airstrikes and added that Germany has neither been asked to join it nor it will do that.

Syrian Resistance

The division within the US coalition has something to do with the resistance from Syria's Assad Government. Though disliked by the US, the Assad government still wants to be in the loop of things before US undertakes any mission to eliminate the IS militants in its territory.

Russia also warned the US that it cannot do airstrikes in Syria without a mandate from the UN Security Council and the local government there.

Syria Ticklish

The British government considers the issue of air strikes in Syria beset with many legal difficulties. While Iraq is offering formal support to the international alliance to drive out ISIS from its territory, no such request has come from Assad government in Syria.

Hammond recently told British MPs in a meeting that there is a qualitative difference between air strikes in Syria and in Iraq. The technical and military differences also make the air strikes in Syria more complicated.

Hammond pointed out that whereas Iraq skies are open over the ISIS-controlled territory, Syria has a more sophisticated and integrated air defence system for protecting the whole airspace and it would make air strikes very complex and hard to deliver.