Obama: No Syrian Force can Defeat Al-Assad
US President Obama has dismissed the idea that supplying US arms to Syrian armed groups would have toppled President Bashar al-Assad, calling it a “fantasy”.
His comments came in a CBS interview when he was asked if a power vacuum had been created in the Middle East which was fuelling violence in Iraq.
He said there was no “ready-made “moderate” Syrian force that was able to defeat al-Assad”.
The US president rejected the idea that the power “vacuum” in Syria.
He further stated that Obama is just one of a number of organizations threatening the United States that we will need to focus on.
“Their extreme ideology poses a medium- and long-term threat,” the president said of the group now taking control of large swaths of Iraq.
He said that the immediate problem is that ISIL is “destabilizing a country that could spill over,” but noted they are “just one of a number of organizations that we need to stay focused on,” including al-Qaeda in Yemen and Boko Haram.
“What we can’t do is think that we’re just gonna play Whac-A-Mole and send US troops occupying various countries wherever these organizations pop up,” Obama said.