SPLIT OVER ASSAD'S FATE
Haley calls for ouster, but Tillerson says ISIS first Our priority in Syria . . . really hasn’t changed. I think the president has been quite clear. First and foremost, we must defeat ISIS. . — Secretary of State t Rex Tillerson
There is no political solution that any of us can see with Assad at the lead. . — UN Ambassador Nikki Haleyey
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley vowed Sunday that President Trump “won’t stop” and would pursue regime change if Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad continues to slaughter his own people — but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wasn’t exactly on the same page.
Haley said Trump would continue to take action when innocents are murdered and bad actors violate international law.
“He won’t stop here. If he needs to do more, he will do more,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The United States supports ousting Assad, Haley said, breaking from her announcement last
[While the US will continue to push for Assad’s ouster,] we’re not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change. — National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster
month that removing the leader was no longer a “priority.”
“There is no political solution that any of us can see with Assad at the lead,” Haley said.
Tillerson, however, gave a more measured response as to whether the United States would dive more deeply into the Syrian conflict.
He said last week’s US strike on a Syrian airfield was a “proportional” and “targeted” response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons in last week’s devastating attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun.
But, he added, the top goal is not ousting Assad but defeating ISIS.
“Our priority in Syria ... really hasn’t changed. I think the president has been quite clear,” Tillerson told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “First and foremost, we must defeat ISIS.”
And speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” the secretary of state said, “There is no
changec to our military posture.”
It’s up to the Syrian people — not the US — to determine Assad’s fate, Tillerson said.
“I think what the United States and our allies want to do is to enable the Syrian people to make that determination,” he told CBS. “You know, we’ve seen what violent regime change looks like in Libya and the kind ofo chaos that can be unleashed.”
“I think we have to learn the lessonsl of the past,” he said on ABC, recalling the 2011 ouster of Libya’s Moammar Khadafy.
Trump’s national security adviser,v H.R. McMaster, tried to bridgeb the two views.
“Both Secretary Tillerson and Ambassador Haley are right about this,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”
Destroying ISIS and regime change are both priorities, he said.
While the US will continue to push for Assad’s ouster, “we’re not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change,” McMaster said, noting Russia needs to dump its backing of the dictator.
Trump authorized the missile strike on the Shayrat airfield Thursday evening after seeing images of Tuesday’s chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun, which killed 87 people.
The US strike earned biparti- san praise as an overdue enforcement of President Barack Obama’s so-called red line, but Congress now wants to sign off on further strategy in Syria.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) laid some blame on the Trump administration for the chemical attack, saying Assad was likely emboldened by Tillerson’s and others’ initial remarks that regime change was not a priority.
“I think it probably was partially to blame,” McCain told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Assad resumed missions at the Shayrat base Saturday, using planes that escaped damage in the US strike, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. He also resumed nonchemical airstrikes on Khan Sheikhoun.
“Here’s what I think Assad’s telling Trump by flying from this base: FU,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Graham praised the US strike but called for 5,000 to 6,000 more troops to “close the deal.”
McCain argued Trump’s strike could have done more.
“We should have cratered the runways,” he said.
Trump offered an explanation over Twitter on Saturday.
“The reason you don’t generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top!)” he wrote.