The United States’ top priority following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime is to ensure ISIS does not receive “new oxygen” and take control of Syria, said outgoing national security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Saturday.
Speaking at the Reagan National Security Forum in Simi, Calif., he added, “we are going to take steps ourselves, directly and working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurds, to ensure that does not happen.”
The forum’s day of discussions and interviews took place as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia was collapsing. Al-Assad fled the capital Damascus, on Sunday and was reportedly in Moscow.
What this immediately meant for the Middle East, from Turkey to the Gulf States and Russia to the United States is unclear. About 800 American servicemembers are in Syria assisting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Russia maintains several airfields near the Syrian Mediterranean coast and a large naval installation at Taurus.
Speaking from the White House, President Joe Biden said he intended for those troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision air strikes” on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria.
“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try and take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its credibility, and create a safe haven,” Biden said.
“We will not let that happen.”
In his discussion at the forum, Sullivan said the administration is working to ensure allies Israel, Jordan, Iraq and others, “who would potentially face spillover effects from Syria, are strong and secure, and we’re in touch with them every day.”
The United States is also alert to stopping a “humanitarian catastrophe, both in terms of civilians, access to life-saving necessities, and in terms of the protection of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria,” he added.
The unexpected toppling of al Assad began less than two weeks ago. The main rebel group behind Assad’s ouster is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose name means Organization for the Liberation of the Levant.
While Biden said actions by the United States and allies weakened Iran, Russia and Hezbollah, all supporters of al-Assad, an NSC statement Sunday said, “the United States has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization.”
Robert Wilkie, a former Pentagon personnel chief and leading the Trump transition defense team, said at the Reagan forum overthrow of al-Assad marks the “apogee of Iran’s power” in the Middle East.
With its past links to al Qaeda and ISIS, the group is still considered a terrorist organization by many other western governments. The leader of the successful offensive is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 “and escalated into a bloody, multifaceted conflict involving domestic opposition groups, extremist factions and international powers, including the United States, Iran and Russia. More than 500,000 Syrians have died, and millions more have fled their homes, The New York Times reported.
