President Biden on Sunday praised the overthrow of Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad and provided US assist in organising a brand new authorities — whereas acknowledging considerations concerning the rebels’ “grim’’ terror hyperlinks.
“In the end, the Assad regime has fallen. This regime brutalized and tortured and killed actually a whole lot of hundreds of harmless Syrians,” Biden, 82, stated from the White Home.
“The autumn of the regime is a basic act of justice. It’s a second of historic alternative for the long-suffering folks of Syria to construct a greater future for his or her proud nation,” the president stated.
“It’s additionally a second of danger and uncertainty as all of us flip to the query of what comes subsequent,” Biden stated.
The outgoing president disclosed that the US believes Assad “is alive” and is hopeful “we are able to get him again” whereas speculating that he’s in Moscow, as Russia has claimed.
On Saturday, Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed into Syria’s capital of Damascus, collapsing Assad’s authorities.
The rebels’ chief, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, has since introduced that former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali will oversee an interim authorities till energy might be fully transitioned over to them.
Regardless of US opposition to the Assad regime, America has been cautious of HTS and al-Julani due to their previous affiliations with al-Qaeda. Al-Julani minimize ties to the group in 2016 and has since tried to say he’s moderated his views.
“Make no mistake, a few of the insurgent teams that took down Assad have their very own grim file of terrorism and human rights abuses,” Biden stated. “We’ve taken notice of statements by the leaders of those insurgent teams in current days.
“They’re saying the correct issues now, however as they tackle better duty, we’ll assess not simply their phrases however their actions.”
Biden underscored the dangers of Syria turning into a haven for ISIS as soon as once more and vowed, “We won’t let that occur” whereas noting that the US army carried out a couple of dozen strikes in Syria focusing on the terrorist group after the collapse of the regime.
He outlined a number of pillars of US coverage towards Syria within the meantime, together with additional collaboration with its neighbors of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel. Biden additionally vowed to assist “reinsure stability in jap Syria” and “stay vigilant” of the state of affairs.
“We’ll interact with all Syrian teams, together with throughout the course of led by the United Nations, to determine a transition away from the Assad regime towards [a] sovereign and impartial … Syria,” Biden vowed.
“This course of might be decided by the Syrian folks themselves. The USA will do no matter we are able to to assist them, together with by way of humanitarian aid.”
One other key precedence Biden laid out was to safe the liberty of Austin Tice, a journalist who was kidnapped in Syria greater than 12 years in the past.
The Assad household had dominated Syria with an iron fist for 53 years, beginning with the daddy Hafez al-Assad, who roared to energy within the aftermath of a coup.
Biden took a victory lap over the rebels’ overthrow, touting his foreign-policy efforts.
“For years, the primary backers of Assad have been Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, however during the last week, their assist collapsed, all three of them, as a result of all three of them are far weaker at this time than they have been once I took workplace,” Biden burdened.
“For the primary time ever, neither Russia nor Iran or Hezbollah might defend this abhorrent regime in Syria. It is a direct results of the blows that Ukraine [and] Israel have delivered upon their very own self-defense with unflagging assist of america.”
The insurgent forces are extensively believed to have succeeded partly due to Assad’s backers being weakened when the renegades renewed their offense late final month and revived the considerably dormant decade-plus-long civil warfare.
Russia was preoccupied in Ukraine, whereas Iran and its proxy forces comparable to Hezbollah had been battered by Israel.
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