(VOVworld) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has defended the alliance’s decision to refrain from involvement in the war in Syria, saying that doing so would only make matters worse.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a press conference in Brussels, Belgium on December  6, (Photo: THX/VNA)

Stoltenberg told a German newspaper on Sunday that sometimes it is right to deploy the military, but sometimes the cost of a military operation is higher than its benefit. He said NATO’s military deployment to Syria would risk expanding the conflict, and even more innocent people might die. All 28 members of NATO belong to the alliance led by the US against IS, but none are directly involved in the Syrian conflict.