US softens rhetoric on Arab outreach to Syria’s Assad
The Biden administration says "real steps to improve the situation for the people in Syria" should be part of any engagement with the long-boycotted regime.
WASHINGTON — Three words — “Assad must go'' — once came to define US policy in Syria. Today, the Biden administration's stance could be summarized as, Assad must not be normalized without something in return.
The Arab world is rebuilding ties with President Bashar al-Assad, more than a decade after the regime violently cracked down on a peaceful anti-government uprising, spawning a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, created a new generation of extremist groups and caused the biggest displacement crisis since World War II.
