Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian military backers will have to relinquish their hold on the war-torn country, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Pompeo reiterated the hard-line position, years after former President Barack Obama first said that Assad must “step aside,” during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the State Department’s budget. It’s the latest expression of commitment to shaping the outcome of the Syrian civil war from a Trump administration that has, at times, looked eager to exit the conflict.
“Can we move forward in Syria long-term with Iran present and with Assad present?” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., asked.
“No,” Pompeo replied.
That declaration comes as Assad is launching a new offensive in southwest Syria, which violates a ceasefire agreement struck by President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That offensive is bringing pro-regime forces closer to a U.S. military base at a border crossing Iran wants to secure in order to have a land-bridge to move their own forces and supplies across the country to the borders of Israel and Lebanon.
“The Syrian regime’s violations of the ceasefire in southwest Syria need to stop,” Nikki Haley, the Trump administration’s top representative at the United Nations, said Friday.
Iranian ground forces, in partnership with Russian air power, averted Assad’s overthrow and have helped him steadily gain military control over more of the country.
“We are not yet in a position where we have sufficient leverage to achieve the political outcome that is in the best interests of the United States and the world,” Pompeo also said during the hearing.
Iran’s withdrawal from Syria is a major part of the scenario he envisions.
“I’m talking about units and formations and command structure and Quds force officers freely passing through the country, fomenting and underwriting importantly with financial assistance terror operations and forces in support of the Syrian regime,” Pompeo added Wednesday.
