On October 26, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at Geneva that that the US does not believe that there is a future for Syria president Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
“It is our view and I have said this many times as well that we do not believe that there is a future for the Assad regime and Assad family. The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end. The only issue is how that should that be brought about.” Tillerson said according to Reuters Agency.
Moreover, Tillerson said that the US is looking for a “whole and unified Syria with no role for Bashar al-Assad in the government”, and described his talks with de Mistura as “fruitful”. US Secretary of State also stressed that the US will continue its work to “de-escalate” the war in Syria.
US Secretary of State went on and told reporters that the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is successful only “because of the air support they have received from Russia”. When Tillerson said this, he clearly ignored that the same, and more can be said about the US-led coalition and the US-backed forces in Syria.
Tillerson statement proves that the new US administration didn’t ditch the regime-change polices that was adopted by the former Barack Obama administration as it promised before. This statement will likely have a negative effect on the next round of Geneva talks on November 28.
Back on 18 August 2011, only weeks after the crisis in Syria begin, former US President Obama said that “the time has come for President Assad to step aside”. Since then, the Syrian crisis has turned into a full-scale war, and new terrorist organization like ISIS emerged in Syria.
