WASHINGTON DC: US President Joe Biden declared that the sudden demise of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad was a “fundamental act of justice,” but that it was “a moment of uncertainty” for the Mideast.
Biden, speaking at the White House, said the collapse of the decades-long iron rule by the Assad family was “the best opportunity in a generation for the Syrian people to forge their own destiny.”
Biden said that action by the U.S. and its allies over the last two years weakened Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Iran-supported Hezbollah militants in Lebanon — to the extent that “for the first time” they could no longer defend the Assad government.
“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Biden said, after a meeting with his national security advisers at the White House.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled his country, which his family had ruled for decades, because close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”
Trump’s comments on his social media platform came a day after he decried the possibility that the U.S. might intervene militarily in Syria to aid the rebels as they moved to oust Assad, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.”
The Biden administration had no intention of intervening, according to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
The U.S has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Biden said he intends for those troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision airstrikes” on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria.
(VOA)
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