Trump said because Russia, an Assad ally, is tied up fighting a war with Ukraine it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” …reports Asian Lite News
President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday the US should not be involved in the conflict in Syria, where rebel forces are threatening the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“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 said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump said because Russia, an Assad ally, is tied up fighting a war with Ukraine it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.”
If Russia were forced out of Syria, it “may actually be the best thing that can happen to them” because “there was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments appeared to reflect his opposition to the presence of some 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the northeast, where they have backed a Syrian Kurd-led alliance in preventing a resurgence of Islamic State militants.
Trump announced in 2018 during his first term that he wanted to withdraw the US troops because he said Islamic State was near defeat.
But he held off as advisers warned that a pullout would leave a void that would be filled by Iran and Russia.
Meanwhile, Trump met French president Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Élysée Palace in Paris on Saturday ahead of the re-opening of the Notre Dame cathedral.
The meeting between the trio was an attempt to kickstart tri-party talks on the Ukraine war. Macron had also indicated that the leaders would discuss the tense situation in the Middle East.
Macron, Zelensky and other world leaders are attempting to garner Trump’s support in Ukraine’s war against Russia. While the president-elect has vowed to end the Ukraine war during his campaign, his plans to achieve this peace remain unclear.
Zelenskyy’s top aide Andriy Yermak met key members of Trump’s team on a two-day trip earlier this week as well. A senior Ukrainian official said that the meetings had been productive, but declined to disclose details.
“We’ve had a good time together and we had a lot of success, really great success, working together on defense and offense, too,” Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying about Macron.
In his first international trip as president-elect, Trump will be joined by several world leaders to celebrate the renovation of the Notre Dame cathedral which was burned down in a fire in 2019.
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