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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The United States will work with partners and stakeholders in Syria to help seize the opportunity that has presented itself after rebel fighters' stunning overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported citing a statement by U.S. President Joe Biden.
"At long last, the Assad regime has fallen," Reuters quoted Biden as saying.
Biden said Syria is in a period of risk and uncertainty and that it is the first time in years that neither Russia nor Iran nor the Hezbollah militant organization held an influential role in Syria.
"For years, the main backers of Assad have been Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. But over the last week, their support collapsed - all three of them - because all three of them are far weaker today than they were when I took office," said Biden, who became president in 2021.
He said Syria faced a period of "risk and uncertainty" and that the United States would help where it can.
"As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk," Biden added.
But a senior U.S. official cautioned that the United States did not plan to offer a blueprint for Syria going forward. "The future will be written by Syrians," the official told reporters.
The United States was watching closely statements from the HTS rebel organization that tossed out Assad. The group is "saying the right things" at this stage but that it was too early to say what was going to happen in Syria, the official added.
The United States will work to ensure the safety of chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, the senior U.S. official said, without elaborating except to say there would not be a role for U.S. troops on the ground in this effort.
A second senior U.S. official told Reuters that the United States would likely keep its estimated 900 troops in eastern Syria as a hedge against ISIS militants.
Meanwhile, Russia’s RT news agency, citing a senior Russian diplomat, reported that Bashar Assad and his family are in Moscow, where they were granted asylum on humanitarian grounds after Damascus fell to militants.