The US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday declared that the administration does not see peace and stability in Syria with Bashar al-Assad still in power.
“Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that Assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for Syria,” Haley said in an interview on CNN.
“If you look at his actions, if you look at the situation, it’s going to be hard to see a government that’s peaceful and stable with Assad,” Haley added.
Haley went on to say that defeating ISIS, pushing Iranian influence out of Syria, and the ousting of Bashar al-Assad are priorities for Washington.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Sunday said that Russia must stop insisting that Bashar al-Assad should remain as the leader of the country as his forces continue to breach the ceasefire agreement in place since December 29, 2016.
Echoing the US and Turkish stance, UK Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said that Russia is to blame for “every civilian death” in last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Sir Michael said last Tuesday’s gas attack was “barbaric, immoral and illegal” and the response of air strikes from US President Donald Trump was “the right call.”
The change of tone by the US ambassador to the UN towards the Assad regime followed the last week’s deadly chemical attack launched by regime forces on the town of Khan Sheikoun in Idlib province. The attack killed more than 100 people, including children, and left hundreds more injured. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
