Fierce fighting has broken out in Syria after Islamist forces, opponents of Syria’s president and long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad, took over the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, in a surprise attack last month.
Battles have since intensified in the country, with rebel forces, led by the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, advancing on government positions south of Aleppo.
Assad’s allies, Russia and Iran, which have been instrumental in keeping him in power after anti-government demonstrations sparked a brutal civil war in 2011, have pledged support for Assad.
In a recent statement, U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett attributed the unfolding crisis to “[t]he Assad regime’s ongoing refusal to engage in the political process outlined in UNSCR 2254, and its reliance on Russia and Iran.”
As State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller noted, Resolution 2254 calls for a process facilitated by the United Nations where the Syrian regime and opposition groups would negotiate a path forward for Syria.
“It’s important that that path be Syrian-led and that it have a process that ultimately leads towards elections. That’s what we want to see over the long term, but in the short term, we want to see a de-escalation of the situation and protection of civilians.”
Spokesperson Miller said that “nothing has changed” with respect to U.S. policy toward the Syrian regime.
“Assad is a brutal dictator with blood on his hands. ... Ultimately, what we want to see is a political process forward where the Syrian people get to determine who their leaders are.”
Spokesperson Miller underscored that “it would be helpful if Russia and Iran stopped their destabilizing influence inside Syria. We have seen them continue to destabilize the situation, going back more than a decade now, continue to play a role that is unhelpful not just to the Syrian people but to the broader region.”
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Spokesperson Miller emphasized that the United States does not support it “in any way, shape or form.” What the United States does support, he said, is “for the Assad regime ... to actually engage in a dialogue and a political process with its own people instead of continuing to engage in civil war with them.”
