President-elect Trump Describes Fall of Assad Regime as “Unfriendly Takeover” Orchestrated by Turkey
President-elect Trump on Monday described the recent fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime as an “unfriendly takeover” orchestrated by Turkey. “I think Turkey is very smart,” he said from a press conference at his Florida residence. “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.”
Assad fled to Russia just over a week ago after the al-Qaeda derived organization, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), rapidly took over western Syria in an offensive that began on November 27, taking Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, before seizing the capital city of Damascus.
The fall of the Assad regime has meant an end to the nearly 14-year civil war that plagued the nation, but the threat against the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is not over as Turkey continues to view it as one of its chief regional adversaries.
The SDF has assisted the U.S. in its fight against ISIS for more than a decade, but Turkey, which shares a border with Syria, has long viewed the group as being affiliated with the extremist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and which, through the SNA, has clashed with the Kurdish-led forces.
The future of Syria remains unclear as the HTS organization, deemed a terrorist network by the U.S. but which has the backing of the Turkey-supported Syrian National Army (SNA), looks to hold on to power.
Western security experts are increasingly concerned that Turkey could have an outsized amount of influence on the neighboring nation. “The fall of Assad greatly amplified Turkey’s influence in Syria, giving unprecedented influence to his partners and proxies,” said David Adesnik, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “If the United States wants to ensure that Syria has the best chance to become a reasonably free and stable country, it needs to keep a very close eye on Erdogan.”