The goal of the American airstrike in Syria was to take out Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons program, not to start a war or kill people, said United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley Sunday.
Haley said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday the strike was successful due to its limited scope.
“Our goal is not to start war and our goal is not to kill people. Our goal is to send a very strong message to Assad and his friends that we are not going to watch them continue to use chemical weapons on their people,” Haley said.
When challenged about the effectiveness of the strikes given Assad’s successful ground offensives in the region recently, Haley said the only goal the U.S. had was to stop chemical weapons from being used on the battlefield.
“We went after their massive research facility, which was the heart of their chemical weapons program. And we went after their production facility. So, this was very strong attack on the chemical weapons program,” she said. “We were not looking for war, that’s the last thing the president wanted was war. We were not looking to kill people. That was not something that in our American values we would want to do.”
Haley said it’s not up to the U.S. to interfere in the country’s civil war. Assad is declaring victory in Eastern Ghouta, the Damascus suburb where chlorine and sarin gases were used on civilians last week.
“Our job was never to take Assad out. Our job was never to start a war. And so what we have done is we’ve continued to stay involved diplomatically. We’ll see that through in terms of the political solution,” she said.
