Trump lauds ouster of Syria’s al-Assad as ‘unfriendly takeover’ by Turkiye
Al Jazeera
US-president-elect gives wide-ranging foreign policy news conference weeks before taking office for second term.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has described the toppling of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkiye, which had aligned itself with several of the rebel groups that led the lightning offensive on Damascus.
Trump made the remarks – in apparent praise of Ankara – during a wide-ranging news conference on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. His comments offered a window into his foreign and domestic policy weeks before he is to re-enter the White House on January 20.
“I think Turkey is very smart. … Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children,” Trump said, referring to the December 8 ousting of the longtime Syrian leader.
Al-Assad’s forced departure followed a surprise offensive across the country by rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had long opposed al-Assad’s rule and supports the Syrian National Army (SNA) rebel group, based in northwestern Syria.
Trump had previously weighed in on the conflict, saying it is “not our fight”.
