The Assad Regime’s “deliberate stoking of sectarian tensions” helped to catapult the rise of ISIL, President Barack Obama said on Thursday.
The Assad regime fomented tensions and led a “war against his own people and helped to pave the way for ISIL’s gains there” by failing to govern inclusively, Obama added during remarks at a White House counterterrorism summit.
Obama urged world governments to address the grievances – political and economic – that terrorist groups exploit in their efforts to draw new recruits.
“When people are oppressed and human rights are denied, particularly along sectarian lines or ethnic lines, when dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism,” he said. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
