Trump says U.S. should not intervene in Syrian civil war

The conflict in Syria appeared to be nearing a turning point Saturday, as news wires reported that rebels were encircling the capital city of Damascus. The rebels are fighting the authoritarian regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Video surfaced online Saturday morning appearing to show rebels tearing down a statue of Hafez al-Assad—President Assad’s father—in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement Saturday saying the United States should stay out of the escalating conflict.

Where is President Assad now? Assad’s office on Saturday denied that he had left the country, according to a report by the Syrian state-run news outlet Alarabiya News. That report cited a government statement saying Assad continued to perform his duties from Damascus, and characterizing any claims to the contrary as rumors and false news. Meanwhile, rumors circulated that Assad, his family, and members of his administration were being evacuated from Damascus by private jet.

What was President-elect Trump’s reasoning? Trump said that Russia has protected the Assad regime for years, but Moscow is now unable to hold the rebels back because it is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine. He added that Russia had nothing to gain from a presence in Syria anyway.

Dig deeper: Listen to Caleb Welde’s report for The World and Everything in It about how the Christian community is trying to rebuild in Syria.