WASHINGTON — The sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is forcing the Biden administration and the new Trump team to answer mounting questions about the possibility of greater conflict in the Middle East.
President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Assad had fled his country his family ruled for decadesbecause close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president “was no longer interested in protecting him.”
Those comments on Trump’s social media platform came a day after he used another post The possibility of US military intervention is frowned upon in Syria to help the rebels and declared: “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” The Biden administration had no plans to intervene, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser said.
Biden met with his national security team at the White House on Sunday. He was expected to comment publicly later in the day.
The US has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
of Assad fall adds to the already tense situation in much of the region on many fronts, including Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and it is fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump, who will take office on January 20, 2025, made a connection between the unrest in Syria and The Russian war in Ukrainenoting that Assad’s allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are currently in a weakened state.”
The Syrian opposition that toppled Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Biden administration has labeled the group a terrorist organization and says it has ties to al-Qaeda, although Hayat Tahrir al-Sham says it has since severed ties with al-Qaeda.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vancea veteran of the US-led war in Iraq, wrote on his own social media on Sunday expressing his skepticism about the insurgents.
“Many of ‘the rebels’ are literally an offshoot of ISIS. You can hope they are moderate. Only time will tell,” he said, using a different acronym for the group.
Trump has suggested that Assad’s ouster could boost prospects for an end to fighting in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.
Trump wrote that Putin’s government “lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine” and the Republican called for an immediate ceasefire a day after the meeting. in Paris with the French and Ukrainian leaders.
Daniel B. Shapiro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said the U.S. military presence in eastern Syria will continue but was “intended solely to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS and has nothing to do with other aspects of this conflict.”
“We call on all parties in Syria to protect civilians, especially those from Syria’s minority communities, to respect international military standards and to work toward reaching a resolution that includes the political settlement,” Shapiro said.
“Multiple actors in this conflict have a terrible track record, including Assad’s heinous crimes, Russia’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment, the involvement of Iranian militias and ISIS’s atrocities,” he added.
However, Shapiro was careful not to directly say that Assad had been deposed by the rebels.
“If this is confirmed, no one should shed tears over the Assad regime,” he said.
As they moved towards the Syrian capital Damascus, the opposition freed political prisoners from state prisons. The family of the missing American journalist Austin Tice renewed calls to find him.
“To everyone in Syria hearing this, please remind people that we are waiting for Austin,” Tice’s mother, Debra, said in comments distributed by hostage groups on social media. “We know when he comes out he’s going to be quite dazed & he will need a lot of care & direction. Please refer him to his family!’
Tice disappeared outside Damascus in 2012, amid an intensification of what would become a civil war that lasted more than a decade.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Manama, Bahrain, contributed to this report.