The united States said that Bahsar al-Assad is a “disgrace to mankind’ and “probably the biggest and most brutal war criminal in the world today.” It reiterated it was “committed to a change in the behavior of that regime.”
Ambassador James Jeffrey, the US Special Representative for Syria Engagement, on Wednesday said that his country would never have good relations with Bashar al-Assad. He stressed that that the US was “committed to a political process that is with and by the Syrian people.”
In an interview with RIA Novosti and Kommersant newspapers, the US diplomat said that the US was not “committed to any kind of regime change in Syria. The Syrian people get to decide who will lead them and what kind of a government they will have.”
“We are committed to a change in the behavior of that regime — first towards its own citizens, then towards its neighbors, then towards the international community, be it the use of chemical weapons, be it the use of torture, be it the extraordinary threats to the region it has created by bringing in the Iranians, by unleashing, even if indirectly, the scourge of Da’esh on the region and into Europe, and the flow of millions of refugees that has burdened Europe and Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.”
Jeffrey said that there was “a long list of things we do not accept or like about that government that will have to change if there is to be a real peace and a real reconciliation with the international community.”
Jeffrey added: “The United States has supported the territorial integrity of Syria at every point in this conflict and before, and we will continue to do so. The presence of American forces carrying out anti-terrorist operations does not indicate any desire to break apart a country.”
Jeffrey commended the efforts made by the outgoing UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura to convene a Constitutional Committee. He noted that the mission of the new UN envoy Geir Pedersen “will be to build on that Constitutional Committee, shepherd it’s work forward, and prepare the way for the elections also called for in the UN resolution 2254.”
“If we are terribly disappointed and the Constitutional Committees is not stood up, then I think the UN …will expect a very different and much more central role played by the UN in fixing this crisis if the efforts by Mr. de Mistura to work with the Russians, to work with the Iranians, to work with the Turks, and to work to some degree with the Syrian government proves to be not successful.” (Source: Syrian Coalitions’ Media Department + Agencies)
