Syrian opposition says US cannot afford to leave Syria yet

RIYADH: Syria’s chief opposition negotiator said the United States cannot afford to leave Syria as it has yet to achieve any of its goals in the region, even though President Donald Trump said recently Washington would withdraw its troops.

“I personally think the US is not capable of withdrawing its fighters from Syria,” Nasr Hariri told Reuters on Friday.

Washington for years supported rebels militarily against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, but ended its train-and-equip programme last year after changing its focus to the fight against IS.

It helped an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias drive the extremists from swathes of northern and eastern Syria last year, including the group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa, and has deployed about 2,000 US troops in the country.

Trump said this month he wanted to bring them home soon but later agreed they should stay a little longer after his advisers argued they were needed to stop IS re-emerging and to prevent Iran gaining a bigger foothold.

The US led limited air strikes against the Syrian government along with Britain and France on April 14 in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack, which Assad denies.

“Daesh (IS) is not finished,” Hariri said.

“If we don’t treat the reasons that birthed Daesh (IS), then these would be temporary victories like shifting sands that disappear here and pop up somewhere else. And fighting Daesh (IS) is at the top of American priorities.”

The only way to end the Syrian crisis is by reaching a political solution that replaces Assad because he is only interested in military solutions, said Hariri. But there can only be a political solution if the US and Russia have serious resolve to reach one, he said.

“It needs an international consensus that begins with a US-Russian agreement,” he said.

Russia’s entry into the Syrian war in 2015 turned the tide in Assad’s favor, but Hariri said Moscow would struggle to restore the government’s pre-war power.

“Russia will not be able to take military control of Syrian lands, and the Syrian situation is much more complex than expanding military influence or achieving military gains,” Hariri said.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/world