Trump arouses Syrian rebel concern, `cautious` optimism in Damascus
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands with his weapon on the rubble of a destroyed building, north of Raqa city, Syria
Reuters, Beirut :
Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president on Wednesday aroused concern among Syrian rebels and a degree of optimism in Damascus, where his victory was seen as a better outcome than a Hillary Clinton win.
Syrian rebels have long been fiercely critical of what they perceive as the Barack Obama administration’s inadequate backing for their fight against President Bashar al-Assad, though Washington has been an important sponsor of the uprising.
While some in the Syrian opposition said Trump had yet to articulate a clear Syria policy, his statements, and his more open-minded stance toward Assad’s ally Russia, have fueled rebel concern about the stance he may adopt on the war, in which Russia’s air force has been bombing insurgents.
“I think things will become difficult because of Trump’s statements and his relationship with Putin and Russia. I imagine this is not good for the Syrian issue,” Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of an Aleppo-based rebel group, told Reuters.
Trump said in an Oct. 25 interview with Reuters that defeating Islamic State was a higher priority than persuading Assad to step down, and warned that Clinton could drag the United States into a new world war over the Syria conflict.
In one of his debates with Clinton, Trump said he did “not like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS” with Russia and Iran.
The Syrian civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people, allowed the rise of Islamic State and created the world’s worst refugee crisis.
Russia and Iran have provided direct military support to Assad while countries that want to see him gone from power, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, have provided rebels with backing including military support.
Meanwhile, US-backed forces pressed offensives on the Islamic State group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as an air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians near the Syrian city of Raqa.
Supported by coalition air raids, Iraqi forces have pushed into IS’s Mosul stronghold and a Kurdish-Arab militia alliance has been advancing on the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital Raqa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that a coalition strike overnight had hit the IS-held village of Al-Heisha, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Raqa.
Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring group, said nine women and two children were among the 20 civilians killed and that 32 others had been wounded.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the militia alliance that Washington is supporting in the assault, denied the civilian deaths.
Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president on Wednesday aroused concern among Syrian rebels and a degree of optimism in Damascus, where his victory was seen as a better outcome than a Hillary Clinton win.
Syrian rebels have long been fiercely critical of what they perceive as the Barack Obama administration’s inadequate backing for their fight against President Bashar al-Assad, though Washington has been an important sponsor of the uprising.
While some in the Syrian opposition said Trump had yet to articulate a clear Syria policy, his statements, and his more open-minded stance toward Assad’s ally Russia, have fueled rebel concern about the stance he may adopt on the war, in which Russia’s air force has been bombing insurgents.
“I think things will become difficult because of Trump’s statements and his relationship with Putin and Russia. I imagine this is not good for the Syrian issue,” Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of an Aleppo-based rebel group, told Reuters.
Trump said in an Oct. 25 interview with Reuters that defeating Islamic State was a higher priority than persuading Assad to step down, and warned that Clinton could drag the United States into a new world war over the Syria conflict.
In one of his debates with Clinton, Trump said he did “not like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS” with Russia and Iran.
The Syrian civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people, allowed the rise of Islamic State and created the world’s worst refugee crisis.
Russia and Iran have provided direct military support to Assad while countries that want to see him gone from power, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, have provided rebels with backing including military support.
Meanwhile, US-backed forces pressed offensives on the Islamic State group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as an air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians near the Syrian city of Raqa.
Supported by coalition air raids, Iraqi forces have pushed into IS’s Mosul stronghold and a Kurdish-Arab militia alliance has been advancing on the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital Raqa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday that a coalition strike overnight had hit the IS-held village of Al-Heisha, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Raqa.
Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring group, said nine women and two children were among the 20 civilians killed and that 32 others had been wounded.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the militia alliance that Washington is supporting in the assault, denied the civilian deaths.
