By Steve Holland, Katharine Jackson and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The US will work with companions and stakeholders in Syria to assist seize the chance that has offered itself after insurgent fighters’ beautiful overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, President Joe Biden mentioned on Sunday.
“At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” mentioned Biden, commenting on a fast-moving string of occasions in Syria that caught some within the White Home off guard.
Biden and his high nationwide safety aides took inventory of a new-look Center East which may be rising after insurgent forces ousted Assad in little greater than per week.
Biden mentioned Syria is in a interval of threat and uncertainty and that it’s the first time in years that neither Russia nor Iran nor the Hezbollah militant group held an influential function in Syria.
“For years, the main backers of Assad have been Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. But over the last week, their support collapsed – all three of them – because all three of them are far weaker today than they were when I took office,” mentioned Biden, who grew to become president in 2021.
He mentioned Syria confronted a interval of “risk and uncertainty” and that the US would assist the place it might.
“As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk,” Biden added.
However a senior U.S. official cautioned that the US didn’t plan to supply a blueprint for Syria going ahead. “The future will be written by Syrians,” the official instructed reporters.
The US was watching carefully statements from the HTS insurgent group that tossed out Assad. The group is “saying the right things” at this stage however that it was too early to say what was going to occur in Syria, the official added.
The US will work to make sure the protection of chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, the senior U.S. official mentioned, with out elaborating besides to say there wouldn’t be a job for U.S. troops on the bottom on this effort.
A second senior U.S. official instructed Reuters that the US would doubtless maintain its estimated 900 troops in japanese Syria as a hedge in opposition to ISIS militants.
The way forward for Russia’s two essential bases and a few smaller ones in Syria was unclear. The bases have been used to again Assad and provides Russia a footprint within the area.
Assad is in Moscow along with his household after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds, a Kremlin supply instructed Russian information businesses on Sunday, and a deal has been completed to make sure the protection of Russian navy bases.
Biden mentioned U.S. forces on Sunday carried out dozens of precision strikes inside Syria concentrating on camps and operatives of Islamic State to maintain the militant group from reasserting itself.
“It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country. It’s also a moment of risk and uncertainty,” Biden mentioned.