Following the downfall of the Bashar Assad regime, the Biden administration is making an attempt to strike a cautious stability — promising to permit the Syrian individuals to chart their very own course whereas additionally vowing to guard American pursuits and forestall a permanent energy vacuum from taking maintain within the nation.
In remarks addressing Assad’s ouster on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck a cautiously optimistic tone, noting that the historic second offered “appreciable dangers” however promising that the U.S. was already working to keep away from them.
“The Syrian individuals need to be those to decide on their path, their future. Senior officers from this division are fanning out by way of the area as we converse, working with counterparts on how the USA may also help assist the Syrian individuals as they resolve their very own path for the long run,” he stated.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a gathering with Civil Society on the sidelines of the thirty first Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial summit, in Ta’Qali, Malta, Dec. 5, 2024.
Alberto Pizzoli/Pool through AP
However along with backing the Syrian individuals, these officers are additionally pushing the administration’s agenda, together with working to collect intelligence on Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine and freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria 12 years in the past.
Roger Carstens, the Biden administration’s high hostage negotiator, travelled to Lebanon following Assad’s ouster, in line with a State Division official.
A senior administration official stated one of many causes Carstens travelled to the nation was to chase down an unconfirmed report that Tice was within the Syrian capital — gathered from alerts intelligence.
Insurgent fighters holds weapons on the Citadel of Aleppo, after Syrian rebels introduced that they’ve ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 9, 2024.
Karam Al-Masri/Reuters
Whereas the U.S. tries to show chaos in Syria into a chance to collect extra details about Tice, the Biden administration can also be making an attempt to forestall ISIS from utilizing that turmoil to launch a resurgence — one thing Blinken stated the group will surely try.
On Sunday, the U.S. army launched a collection of punishing airstrikes on ISIS militants. Pentagon officers described the assaults as preemptive measures geared toward stopping the group from reorganizing in Syria and signaled further strikes have been probably.
One other concern created by the demise of the Assad regime is the stockpiles of chemical weapons it might have left within the nation. Though the Obama administration minimize a cope with Russia, an Assad ally, to destroy the banned munitions, that deal was not totally applied and efforts to examine remaining arsenals have been unsuccessful.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, seen in the course of the Signing of the great program of strategic and long-term cooperation between Iran and Syria, Might 3, 2023, In Damascus, Syria.
Borna Information/Matin Ghasemi/Aksonline ATPImages/Getty Pictures
U.S. officers worry that stockpiles of the substances essential to create these chemical weapons, if not the weapons themselves, stay in Syria and will fall into the palms of dangerous actors.
The Israeli army stated it carried out strikes on suspected chemical weapons and missile websites in latest days, however the full image of the place these depots could also be positioned inside Syria stays hazy.
Whereas the Biden administration celebrated the tip of Assad’s rule, anxiousness over who will govern Syria subsequent is palpable.
U.S. officers worry the extended absence of a government in Syria may result in a permanent post-revolution turmoil much like the political and humanitarian crises nonetheless taking part in out in Libya and Sudan.
However additionally they have their misgivings concerning the group that led the coalition of rebels that defeated Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which spawned from an affiliate of al-Qaeda and is classed as a terrorist group by the U.S.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has tried to distance itself from its jihadist roots, however officers throughout the Biden administration have expressed skepticism — fearing the group will revert to its outdated methods when in energy.
In an deal with on Sunday, President Joe Biden signaled that the U.S. was unlikely to rethink its place towards Hayat Tahrir al-Sham within the close to future.
“As they tackle higher duty, we’ll assess not simply their phrases, however their actions,” he stated.
Insurgent fighters pose as they maintain a Syrian opposition flag on the Umayyad Mosque, after rebels seized the capital and ousted Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 9, 2024.
Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
However as Washington undergoes its personal transition of energy, its unclear which of the Biden administration’s priorities for Syria the Trump administration will maintain in place.
“Syria is a large number, however shouldn’t be our buddy, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” President-elect Donald Trump stated in a press release on Saturday.
“Trump’s said aim is remaining aloof from the battle in Syria, however many U.S. allies have acute pursuits at stake in Syria, and the potential of issues in Syria to metastasize is massive,” stated Jon Alterman, director of the Center East Program on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research and a former State Division official.
“There is no query in my thoughts that this example goes to evolve over many, many months,” he stated. “And whereas the choices made now are necessary, the results of most of these choices is not going to be clear till we’re effectively into the Trump administration.”
