Marco rubio warns syria ‘weeks’ away from ‘collapse and full-scale civil war of epic proportions’

Nypost

Marco rubio warns syria ‘weeks’ away from ‘collapse and full-scale civil war of epic proportions’"


Play all audios:

Loading...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that Syria may be weeks away from plunging into another civil war or collapsing altogether. Rubio, who met with top Syrian officials


last week during President Trump’s Middle East trip, said fears for the fledgling Damascus government were the main reason Trump abruptly opted to implement a 180-day waiver on sanctions


last week following his meeting in Saudi Arabia with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. “It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing,


are maybe weeks — not many months — away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations


Committee. “The lifting of the sanctions, its most immediate impact will be to allow neighboring countries to begin to assist the transitional authority to build governance mechanisms that


allow them to actually establish government, unify the armed forces under one banner,” he added. However, Rubio also cautioned that sanctions relief alone “won’t be enough” to stabilize


Syria and suggested “there’s going to have to be something done congressionally or more comprehensively” to revive the beleaguered nation following more than 14 years of civil war. EXPLORE


MORE Al-Sharaa led the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s toppling of the Assad regime last year — ending a dynasty that had ruled the former French colony since 1971. Last week, Saudi Crown Prince


Mohammed bin Salman helped organize a meeting between al-Sharaa and Trump, during which the US president implored the Syrian leader to sign on to the Abraham Accords recognizing Israel.


Al-Sharaa is a career militant who fought US troops as a member of Al Qaeda in Iraq in the early 2000s before founding the terrorist group’s Nusra Front affiliate in Syria in 2012.


Now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard condemned al-Sharaa during her confirmation hearing in January as “an Islamist extremist … who danced on the streets to celebrate the 9/11


attack.” Al-Sharaa broke with al Qaeda’s leadership in 2016 and has sought to rebrand himself as a defender of Syria’s religious diversity, which includes Christians and Alawites, both of


whom comprise more than 10% of the population, and Druze, who comprise about 3%. “The bad news is that the transitional authority figures — they didn’t pass their background check with the


FBI,” Rubio said Tuesday. “On the flip side of it, if we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out. If we do not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out.” Rep. Martin Stutzman


(R-Ind.), who visited Syria last month and met with al-Sharaa, told The Post last week that the new president is dead set on keeping Syria unified and praised him for having a Christian in


his cabinet. “He wants to keep Syria unified,” Stutzman explained. “Any effort to divide the country into regional parts or sectarian parts was not acceptable.” Rubio also warned that if


Syria collapses again, it could lead to chaos throughout the Middle East, and underscored how the country became a “playground, frankly, for jihadist groups like ISIS and others” after civil


war erupted in March 2011.


Trending News

Real estate news headlines - 9News

Buyer coughs up $3.6 million for six car spots in Sydney CBDOne lucky buyer has just spent a jaw-dropping amount of mone...

Vitaminised nanotubes ferry anticancer drug

Researchers have synthesized a nanosized drug carrier from multiwalled carbon nanotubes, vitamin E and an organic compou...

Dissolved organic carbon trends resulting from changes in atmospheric deposition chemistry

ABSTRACT Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain recent, widespread increases in concentrations of dissolved or...

Good Week, Bad Week | The Week

Listen in as John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee, co-hosts of "The Takeaway," bring you an audio version of _...

Holly Barrow | TheArticle

First {{register.errors.names}} Last Gender What's this for? Age bracket What's this for? This is to help us s...

Latests News

Marco rubio warns syria ‘weeks’ away from ‘collapse and full-scale civil war of epic proportions’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers Tuesday that Syria may be weeks away from plunging into another civil war ...

Feature property | exquisite family residence

The upper level seamlessly transitions into an expansive open-plan living area, where a gourmet kitchen, equipped with p...

The page you were looking for doesn't exist.

You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.By proceeding, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and our ...

Psychophysical Interaction | Nature

ABSTRACT THOSE of your readers who have been interested by Sir Oliver Lodge”s article printed in NATURE, April 23, on th...

Channelnews : samsung s5: a “disruptive breakthrough”?

The 5.1″ Full HD SUPER AMOLED Galaxy S5 super phone has loads of cool features like IP67 sandproof and waterproof, 16MP ...

Top