US fighting to overthrow Assad government, not ISIL: Analyst

US airstrikes against the ISIL terrorist group in Syria is a cover for overthrowing the elected government of Bashar al-Assad, a political activist and radio host in New York says.

Despite the US-led military campaign to defeat ISIL, the Assad government is the only party successfully fighting the terrorist group, Don DeBar told Press TV on Thursday.

US officials are pursuing the ouster of Assad to weaken Syria and create a “chaotic situation” similar to the one in Iraq and Libya after their former leaders were deposed, DeBar argued.

President Barack Obama has asked his national security team to review US strategy toward Syria after concluding that ISIL may not be defeated with Assad in power, officials say.

Over the past week, the White House has convened four meetings of Obama’s national security team, which according to a senior official, were “driven to a large degree how our Syria strategy fits into our ISIS (ISIL) strategy,” CNN reported.

The ISIL terrorists — some of whom were amongst militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government — now control large parts of Syria and Iraq.

The US launched airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq in August. A US-led coalition also began its military campaign against the group in Syria in late September.