Syria’s Assad sees Trump as ‘an ally against terrorism’

Syrian President Bashar Assad suggested President-elect Donald Trump could be an “ally” in his regime’s declared fight against terrorism.

Further, the president expected US -backed Syrian Kurdish fighters – which Turkey regards as terrorists due to their association to Kurdish rebels in Turkey – would shortly leave the town of Manbij, fulfilling a USA vow to Turkey.

Trump said he was ready to work with Assad to fight against Islamic State in Syria, in the run-up to last week’s USA presidential election.

The United States leads an worldwide coalition that is conducting air strikes against IS jihadists in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and also backs rebels fighting the Assad regime.

But he said it was “dubious” whether Mr Trump could “live up to his promises”. The US should therefore impose new means of strong pressure on the Iranian regime and against its proxy militia groups such as the Hezbollah and force them to give up the idea of having the whole region under their domination.

“They are sovereign country, they are an independent country, but this is their limit; they don’t have to interfere in any other country”, Assad noted, arguing that freedom and democracy can not be imposed from overseas as a prerogative of the Syrian people to shape their democracy.

Had the USA foreign policy shown some more strength under President Obama, the Russians would never have even thought of setting foot in the region.

He has said fighting Syria could lead to fighting Russia and during the election campaign he had shown admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The final version of the bill keeps intact sanctions that would apply to Russian Federation and Iran but provides for exemptions for humanitarian aid.

The European Union extended its sanctions on Syria yesterday (14 November), banning the country’s central bank chief and its finance minister from travelling in Europe and freezing their assets in a further step to isolate President Bashar al-Assad.

The United States is now leading an global coalition conducting air strikes against Isis fighters in Syria and Iraq.

Adham Sahloul of the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports several hospitals in opposition areas in Syria, said it appeared the government was focusing its fire on Aleppo’s medical infrastructure.

“The only way out of this [war] is to establish a direct dialogue” with not only Syria and Russian Federation, but with Turkey and Iran as well, Gen. Basbug said.

Hisham Skeif, a member of one of the local councils in Aleppo, said that the Assad regime was trying to sow chaos, forcing desperate civilians to raid the warehouses for grain. Yet neither the outgoing nor the incoming US president appears willing to do anything to prevent this calamity.

Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose approach in Syria has been praised by the US President-elect, spoke by phone on Monday and agreed to “combine efforts to tackle worldwide terrorism and extremism”, the Kremlin said.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who worked to approve the bill in committee in July, said on the floor Tuesday that the Obama administration failed to use the tools at its disposal to stop the suffering of innocent civilians in Syria.

Assad also accused the United States of interfering in the affairs of other countries.

But lawmakers said they wanted the ISA to stay in effect to send a strong message that the United States will respond to provocations by Iran and give any USA president the ability to quickly reinstate sanctions if Teheran violated the nuclear agreement.