Biden: US troops to remain in Syria 'to ensure stability' after Assad's fall
Washington has vowed to engage with “all Syrian groups," including HTS, and to assist Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Israel if they are threatened from Syrian territory.
WASHINGTON – Outgoing US President Joe Biden vowed US troops would remain in eastern Syria to ensure stability after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Sunday, emphasizing that Washington would work with “all Syrian groups” towards political transformation in Damascus.
"We will help ensure stability in eastern Syria, protecting any personnel — our personnel — against any threats, and will remain our mission against ISIS — will be maintained, including security of detention facilities where ISIS fighters are being held as prisoners,” Biden said in an address from the White House on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its capacity to create a safe haven,” Biden underscored. “We will not let that happen.”
US B-52s, F-15s and A-10 warplanes struck more than 75 suspected ISIS targets in Syria’s rural central desert known as the Badia west of the Euphrates River on Sunday. The massive package of strikes became feasible once the Russia’s military abandoned that airspace and territory, officials said.
