'Not our fight': Donald Trump asserts US should not get involved in Syrian conflict
Washington DC: US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday stated that the United States should "not get involved" in Syria, where rebel forces claim they are closing in on the capital, Damascus, media reports said.
“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, reported AFP.
Trump made the statement shortly before a scheduled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, where he was attending the reopening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral.
He asserted that Russia, a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years,” citing Russia’s distraction with the conflict in Ukraine.
According to Trump, Russia’s potential withdrawal from Syria “may actually be the best thing that can happen to them” because “there was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 as a pro-democracy uprising against Assad, has seen a dramatic escalation.
Rebel forces, primarily led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), recently seized control of Aleppo, once Syria’s second-largest city, followed by Hama.
Thousands of civilians are fleeing as the rebels press their offensive, marking one of the most significant advances since the war began, reported CBS news.
HTS, which has distanced itself from its al-Qaeda roots, has capitalized on the distractions facing Assad’s key backers—Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah—who are preoccupied with other conflicts.
Abu Mohammad al-Jawlani, the leader of HTS, told CNN that the group’s objective is clear: "The goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. The seeds of the regime's defeat have always been within it… the Iranians attempted to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to prop it up. But the truth remains: this regime is dead."
The civil war has killed over 5,00,000 people and displaced 12 million.
The troubled country is again witnessing fresh conflict as rebel forces are swiftly taking over regions previously considered under Assad’s control.
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